Panama City, July 24 (EFE). – A network that sexually exploited minors on the northern and southern borders of Panama was dismantled by the Panamanian authorities, who rescued six children, as reported on Monday by the police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (prosecutor’s office) of the Central American country.
Official sources told EFE that there were 10 detainees, including the mother of some minors who offered to have sexual encounters with her daughters for “50 or 100 dollars” and a “sergeant” from the National Border Service (Senafront) to pay them for sexual contact with the victims.
“The National Police and the Public Prosecution Service are carrying out #OperaciónTrillizas in the departments of Chiriqui and Darien, in order to dismantle a criminal group dedicated to crime against freedom and sexual integrity in its method of commercial sexual exploitation,” the Panamanian Police said on Twitter.
For its part, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported via Twitter, “The Public Prosecution Office in Chiriqui is carrying out #OperaciónTrillizas in the Baro region, returning six minors who were victims of this crime, in addition to mobile phones as evidence for this investigation, which begins in 2022.”
The network, which operated in Chiriqui and Darien, on the borders with Costa Rica and Colombia, respectively, was dismantled by the police, Senafront, and the Panamanian attorney general’s office under “triple operations,” according to official information.
Until last June, there were 3,075 complaints of crimes against sexual freedom and sexual safety, of which 223 were related to “corruption of minors, commercial sexual exploitation and other behavior,” according to official figures from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
According to official data, the province of Panama, where the capital is located, followed by Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro (both on the border with Costa Rica), is where the most complaints are.
In 2022, there were 6,389 complaints in Panama of offenses against sexual freedom and sexual integrity, of which 395 were related to corruption of minors, commercial exploitation, and other behaviour. This represents an increase of 7% compared to the previous year, when 5,969 were registered. The regions with the most complaints were Panama, Chiriqui and Panama-Oeste – near the capital – .EFE
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