15-year-old among 5 TIP victims rescued

Five alleged human trafficking victims were rescued and a wanted female perpetrator is facing charges following a surprise raid in the Omai Mining area, Region Seven last Friday.

According to the Ministry of Social Protection, the raid was carried out by a team which included officials from the Ministry, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GG&MC), the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Community Policing Group (CPG- Linden) following a tip-off about a missing person who was said to be a TIP victim.

The missing person; a male who claimed to be under-aged and had no identification; was found to be the only adult among the victims.

Three of the alleged victims were reintegrated with their families’ while the others remain under the protection of the Ministry assisting investigators.

Investigations have revealed that the fourth victim, who is a 15-year old is an alleged victim of human trafficking since the two required elements of human trafficking as stipulated in the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2005 are present in the statement.

The female perpetrator who was hiding from police was netted in the raid and made her first appearance in a city Court Monday. She was remanded to prison until November 18.

The raid was carried out at around 16:00 hrs last Friday.

Omai Mine is one of the largest gold mines in Guyana.