Cancun, Q.R. — Over a dozen women found in a situation of forced prostitution have been rescued in Cancun. Local authorities say 18 women of varying nationalities were removed from a club during a weekend operation.
Personnel from the State Attorney General (FGE) executed a search warrant in a bar in SM 247 Friday night. Inside they found 18 women hired as waitresses and dancers forced into prositution.
Police said of those found, 15 were Mexican, two Venezuelan, and one Cuban, all victims of human trafficking.
“The legal proceedings took place at an establishment operating as a bar located on Arco Norte Avenue and Paseo el Laure Street in Superblock 247,” they said.
“At the establishment, officers located 18 women who worked as waitresses and dancers, and who also offered sexual services for 2,000 pesos and up, half of which they had to give to the bar owner.”
Authorities said according to their initial investigations, the victims were women in vulnerable situations, most of them single mothers with little higher education.
They were persuaded to work at the establishment as waitresses, but once there, they were forced into prostitution.
After the women were removed, security seals were on the property, putting it under the custody of the FGE. Police did not announce any arrests during the Friday night search and rescue operation.
