Interpol's Largest Operation Liberterra II Saves More Than 3,200 Prospective Victims Of Human Trafficking

Operation Liberterra II Interpol. (Source: Interpol)

JAKARTA - Thousands of victims were rescued and hundreds of suspects arrested in Interpol's biggest operations to tackle human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, the global crime eradication organization said.

The five-day operation has revealed the scale of human movement around the world and the suffering of those exploited by organized crime gangs.

Interpol released details of the latest operation, named Operation Liberterra II, at its annual general meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday.

The raids by law enforcement and other authorities managed to save 3,222 potential victims of human trafficking and identified 17,793 illegal migrants, Interpol said, as reported by The National News November 8.

During Operation Liberterra II, 2,517 arrests were made, 850 of which were related to allegations of human trafficking or smuggling of migrants.

He explained that this operation included the rescue of 1,500 illegal migrants and the arrest of 94 suspected smugglers in Turkey.

Next, British authorities arrested a 32-year-old Syrian man in Nottingham. He is wanted by Romania for illegally transporting migrants from Bulgaria to the country to continue his journey to the Netherlands.

In Tunisia, authorities intercepted 27 people, including 21 minors, who attempted to travel to England under the guise of language study travel.

Seven suspects were arrested in Algeria on charges of money laundering linked to the organization of migrant smuggling.

Meanwhile, Serbian police arrested 12 suspects linked to two organized criminal groups that allowed at least 178 illegal migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a general route for migrants from the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Montenegro authorities arrested 11 members of an organized group suspected of smuggling 350 migrants from Asia into the European Union. Police found cash, telephone, vehicles, asylum documents, and foreign passports.

Details of Interpol's operations emerged after 18 members of a smuggling gang led by Kurdi-Irak were sentenced to prison for up to 15 years by a court in Lille, France.

"It's not a short game, so if a country thinks imprisoning a number of people is the end of everything, they're deceiving themselves," Richard Chambers, director of organized and growing crime at Interpol told The National.

"The reality is, organized crime groups run business models. You can get rid of some players, but you have to keep getting rid of players who then fill the void. When the country makes arrests, it often leads to the next. Through the investigation, we found other groups operating," he explained.

"These gangs are always looking for new ways, better, faster, and harder to detect to do something. Our role is to keep it off," he said.

Interpol reported the operation involved monitoring about 24,000 flights. Officers were also sent to places known to be locations of human trafficking and smuggling, while about eight million checks were carried out on Interpol databases.

Interpol further reported that Operation Liberterra II detected an increase in the number of Asian migrants, particularly Vietnam, in America. However, it is said Venezuelan citizens are the largest illegal migrant group reported by participating countries, with most moving to North America and other South American states.

Chambers said he was "failed by the results" which made him aware of transnational nature of human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

"Liberterra allowed us to really highlight what could be achieved in a week, and those results were more than I expected, but I think it shows the importance of the problem," he said.

"So what about the other 51 weeks in a year?" he added.

He said worldwide human trafficking "is a growing business and therefore it is our growing business".

"The UK has seen this, Europe has seen this, America has seen this. So when, when there are global challenges, what arises from it is vulnerability, and organized crime groups will export that vulnerability," he said.

Interpol said, as part of the operation, authorities in Syria identified a group of doctors suspected of trafficking in organs.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, 25 people were arrested in connection with a trade network involved in forced beggars.

Officers also raided a warehouse in the Philippines where more than 250 people, mostly Chinese nationals, carried out romance scams on an industrial scale.

Officers are now examining the confiscated devices and conducting interviews to separate prospective victims of trade from members of the criminal company.

"In pursuit of tireless profits, organized crime groups continue to exploit men, women, and children many times over," said Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock.

"Although it is still early, the results of this operation highlight the large scale of challenges facing law enforcement, which underlines that only coordinated actions can ward off this threat," he said.