The Attorney General’s Office reported yesterday that four defendants belonging to a network engaged in smuggling migrants and human trafficking in the city of Zalla were detained, pending further investigation.
Military police in the city of Zalla had conducted a stop and search operation that resulted in the understanding that the detainees fled from a place where they were subjected to torture and cruel treatment, for the purpose of getting their families to pay sums of money. This claim was backed up by video recordings documenting scenes of torture of the victims.
The Attorney General’s Office said further investigation resulted in proving that the members of the gang formation caused the death of ten migrants as a result of the torture practiced by the kidnappers on 164 immigrants from Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.
Seventy-one other migrants were forced to each pay ten thousand dollars for their release.
The investigator thus concluded to order the detention of the defendants, pending investigation, and proceeded to pursue the rest of the members of the gang formation.
