Boa Vista/RR – This Saturday morning (March 18), the Federal Police launched Operation Palácios, with the aim of investigating and arresting suspects involved in a criminal organization that would recruit women and teenagers to be exploited in illegal mines in the Yanomami Indigenous Land.
Four search and seizure warrants and 4 temporary arrest warrants, issued by the Roraima State Court for Crimes against Vulnerables, are served in Boa Vista/RR.
The investigations began after a 15-year-old teenager was rescued last Tuesday (14/3), in the context of Operation Liberation, during an approach on the Mucajaí River, and it was raised that she was being a victim of sexual exploitation in mines of the region.
The Federal Police managed to identify people who would be involved in the logistics and operation of a scheme to send women and teenagers to be sexually exploited in mining areas, including by deceiving them.
Through fake profiles on social networks, recruiters would make contact with women and teenagers, offering them the possibility of working in mining in the most varied areas (including prostitution) with the promise of unrealistic earnings. After being convinced, a driver working for the criminal group would pick up the enticed victims, taking them to a clandestine airstrip, where they were transported by plane to the mining area. Once there, in extremely precarious conditions, the victims were informed and charged for the costs of transport, which would cost up to R$10,000, generating, from then on, an initial debt with the managers of the criminal group.
All of the victims’ livelihood, from food to housing, would be charged by the recruiters, so as to strategically prevent them from leaving until they paid off the debt.
In an attempt to settle ever-increasing debts, the victims performed up to 15 programs a night, in addition to being threatened if they did not want to become prostitutes.
The main suspects of direct involvement with the action are two sisters and the husband of one of them.
Victims and people who know of similar situations can report anonymously to the PF in Roraima by calling (95) 36211500 or by attending our Superintendence.
*The name of the operation refers to the Palaces Law, the first law against the sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in women, which came into force in Argentina in 1913.
PF Social Communication in Roraima
[email protected]
95 3621-1548 (WhatsApp)
