Dominican police bust ring coerced women to Trinidad & Tobago brothels

Higuey, Dominican Republic.- The La Altagracia Province office of the prosecutor on Tuesday announced the arrest three alleged ringleaders of a human trafficking ring which recruited Dominican women to work with bogus employment contracts in Trinidad & Tobago, where they were then forced into prostitution.

Martin Ogando (Kinito) Daisy Mota (Daisy Mara) and Osiris Hernandez were detained for alleged trafficking, and for allegedly charging RD$30,000 each on the promise of work earning US$1,500 per month as waitresses in Trinidad & Tobago.

Jonathan Baró, lead prosecutor of the Anti-Smuggling and Trafficking Dept., said the months-long investigation jointly with La Altagracia province prosecutor Lucas Perez determined that e women "were transported from the airport by as yet unknown person, which took them to a brothel, stripping them of all their identity papers and forcing them into prostitution."

Hernandez, deported by Trinidadian authorities and arrested by Dominican authorities on Saturday, allegedly taxied the women from apartments to the brothel where they were exploited.