Cancun, Q.R. — Specialized officers in Cancun reported the rescue of five teens for labor exploitation over the weekend. At least one adult was detained during the operation.
The FGE (Fiscalía General del Estado) said the rescues were carried out in coordination with the Secretariat of the Navy, National Guard and Municipal Police. On Sunday, authorities executed two search warrants where they located the five teens.
“In the first raid, carried out at a junkyard located on the main avenue of the Tres Reyes informal settlement, agents found three teenage boys, two of them Mexican nationals and one from Honduras,” the FGE reported.
“The second court order was executed at a tortilla shop located on the main avenue of the Tres Reyes informal settlement, where agents found two teenagers, one female and one male.”
Police said they “worked there for a salary of 1,000 pesos per week without a day off, with excessive hours of more than eight hours, and were also forced to sell drugs.”
As a result, all five underaged teens were removed from both establishments and taken into protective custody. They remain in the custody of DIF (the System for the Integral Development of the Family) in Cancun.
One man from the tortilla shop where police say the teens were forced to work in excess of eight hours a day and sell drugs, left with officers.
In both instances, police said charges of human trafficking and labor exploitation are pending.
