ONE Colombian man and two women from the Dominican Republic have been charged with human trafficking of children in Tobago.
Deivy Oscoro Silva, 20, Digna Yulay Los Santos, 33 and Alexandra Chalas Pozo, 22, all of Riseland Trace Bethel Tobago were jointly charged for trafficking in children when they appeared before Magistrate Christine Charles at the Scarborough Magistrates’ Court on December 4.
Los Santos and Pozo have also been charged with transporting a person for the purpose of prostitution while Pozo faced an additional charge of Inciting a child to become a prostitute.
They were all denied bail and remanded into custody and are expected to reappear in court on December 22, a release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) stated on Monday.
The TTPS reported that on November 27, officers of the Counter Trafficking Unit received information of an alleged child prostitution ring where several minors were being held against their will.
Officers went to the sister isle and conducted surveillance followed by a police operation. All three accused were arrested by a team of officers from the Counter Trafficking Unit and the Special Investigation Task Force, during the intelligence-led police operation.
Three Latin American female minors were also rescued and several items of evidential value were found and seized.
The operation was spearheaded by Snr Supt Christopher Paponette of the Special Investigations Unit in collaboration with the Director of the Counter Trafficking Unit, with legal advice being given by TTPS Legal Officer Cpl Zaheer Ali.
The operation was supervised by Sgt Walters of the Counter Trafficking Unit and Cpl Antoine of the Special Investigations Task Force, alongside representatives from the Children’s Authority and the Victims and Witness Support Unit.
The charges were laid by WPC Rodriguez of the Counter Trafficking Unit.
