Public Ministry seeking more victims of child sex network

The Public Ministry is looking for victims of a child sex-trafficking network uncovered by the Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime in the Luz de Esperanza (Light of Hope) operation, in which 12 minors, between 4 and 16 years of age were rescued.

After the proceedings carried out starting on February 4, the prosecutor’s office apprehended four women, three of them allegedly in charge of transferring the minors from the district of Barú, in Chiriquí, to a place on the border with Costa Rica, where the authorities located a residence used for the sexual exploitation of children.

The women, who were charged for the alleged commission of the crime of sexual exploitation by the Court of Guarantees of Chiriquí, in some cases are mothers and in others aunts of the victims.

During the charges hearings, at the request of the Public Ministry, the guarantee judge ordered the provisional detention of three of the accused, while a measure other than detention was imposed on the fourth, a measure that was appealed by the prosecution.

The authorities of the Public Ministry also do not rule out that other people are related to the network.

The case file includes key material in the process, including pornographic videos of minors found on cell phones.

The prosecution seized other technological devices that will be inspected by experts from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences .

The operation was carried out in conjunction with the Costa Rican Immigration Police, which arrested a man of Costa Rican nationality.

Personnel from the National Border Service and the National Police participated in the operation.