Riviera Maya, Q.R. — Police say they found over two dozen women during a raid on two establishments. One raid was in Cancun and the other in Playa del Carmen. During the raids, police located over two dozen victims of human trafficking.
The bars were searched as part of an operation between the Navy, National Guard, state and municipal police. A total of 29 women and one teenager were rescued from the bars.
Police say they were all found victims of human trafficking in the forms of prostitution and labor exploitation.
“The first court order was executed at a bar in Cancun on Rancho Viejo Avenue in SM 244 where participating officers found six women, five Mexican and one Cuban, who were soliciting clients and providing sexual services. They also took into custody a Mexican teenager, a likely victim of labor exploitation,” police reported Monday.
The second raid was conducted at a bar on 125th Avenue South and 17th Street South in Playa del Carmen. There, police located 23 women of which 18 were Mexican nationals and five were foreigners. Three women were Cubans, one Honduran, one Peruvian and one Nicaraguan.
All 23 were offering sexual services.
Due to their vulnerable condition, the women were taken into protective custody and referred to the appropriate authority to guarantee their protection, comprehensive care and access to their rights.
After completing the procedures, officers placed security seals on the properties, leaving both places under the custody of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Police did not say if the two bars were related.
