Italian judge throws out case against migrant NGOs after seven years
Rome, Italy Reuters An Italian judge on Friday cleared three migrant sea rescue charities that had been accused of abetting irregular immigration in complicity with human traffickers, throwing out a case opened more than seven years ago. A pre-trial judge in Trapani, Sicily, said there were no grounds to proceed against international charities Doctors Without […]
Philippine court orders arrest of religious leader with ties to Duterte
Manila, Philippines Reuters A Philippine court has ordered the arrest of a church founder and longtime friend of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse of a woman, court documents showed. The evangelist preacher, who also figures on the most wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the […]
South-East Asia human trafficking now a global crisis, Interpol says
Singapore Reuters Organised crime rings who fuelled an “explosion” of human trafficking and cyber scam centres during the pandemic have expanded from South-East Asia into a global network making up to $US3 trillion a year, the head of Interpol said on Wednesday. “Driven by online anonymity, inspired by new business models and accelerated by COVID, […]
India says it uncovers trafficking racket duping people into fighting for Russia in Ukraine
New Delhi, India Reuters India said it had uncovered a “major human trafficking network” which lured young men to Russia with the promise of jobs only to force them to fight in the war in Ukraine. About 35 men have been sent to Russia in the scheme so far, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) […]
US-Mexico border: Migrants are being raped as they await entry to US
LAURA GOTTESDIENER, TED HESSON, MICA ROSENBERG AND DAINA BETH SOLOMON, of Reuters, report…
Hundreds of labour exploitation victims found near Lisbon
Samouco, Portugal Reuters Hundreds of alleged victims of labour exploitation were found on Wednesday in different locations near Portugal’s capital Lisbon, including inside a big warehouse where they were kept to work in the illegal harvesting of shellfish. The Maritime Police, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement that all of the 243 […]
Six charged after 18 migrants found dead in truck in Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria Reuters Bulgarian prosecutors have charged six people with human trafficking after 18 Afghan migrants were found dead inside a truck dumped on an dirt road near the capital Sofia on Friday. Prosecutors said the truck was abandoned near the village of Lokorsko after the driver and his companion found that many of the […]
COVID-19 cut known human trafficking, but Ukraine war a risk: UN
Vienna, Austria Reuters The COVID-19 pandemic led to the first drop in the known number of human-trafficking victims in 20 years as trafficking opportunities and policing were reduced, but the Ukraine war has probably now caused a new surge, a UN report said on Tuesday. The number of detected trafficking victims fell 11 per cent […]
Cyber crime: Asian tech workers held captive in scam factories
ANURADHA NAGARAJ and NANCHANOK WONGSAMUTH, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how tech-savvy Asians are being lured with fake job adverts and then forced to defraud strangers through crypto and romance scams…
Nigeria’s Rivers state police free 15 children abducted for trafficking
Yenagoa, NigeriaReuters Police in Nigeria’s Rivers state rescued 15 children who were abducted in order to be trafficked, police said in a statement on Tuesday. The children, ranging from four years to 15-years-old, were found with a 44-year-old woman claiming to be a nun in the southern state in Nigeria’s Delta region. Police arrested the […]