An operation codenamed "Frontera Norte" enabled the Chilean Criminal Investigation Police (PDI) to arrest in the town of Arica, in northern Chile, near the Peruvian border, 9 members of a Haitian migrant smuggling ring following an investigation supported by INTERPOL and law enforcement in South and Central America.

The individuals arrested : 4 Chileans, 2 Venezuelans, 1 Peruvian, 1 Haitian and 1 Paraguayan will all face charges of criminal association and migrant smuggling.

The network is suspected of smuggling more than 1,000 Haitian migrants from Chile to Mexico where the United States was the final destination.

During the investigation of the Specialized Brigade on Trafficking in Human Beings of the IDP, which lasted more than a year, the police identified a transnational criminal network dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of irregular migrant travel. Haitians from Chile to the United States.

The facilitators promote their services through WhatsApp groups and also had contact with migrant smugglers in other countries along the long road to the US border.

"The diligence of the Chilean PDI in investigating and dismantling this network, with support from other involved countries via INTERPOL shows what law enforcement cooperation can achieve when information is shared," declared INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.

SL/ HaitiLibre