OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR INVOLVEMENT IN TRAFFICKING – Guatemalan authorities have arrested 25 individuals, most of whom are active police officers

Guatemalan authorities have arrested 25 individuals, most of whom are active police officers, for their involvement in a human trafficking network operating along a route frequently used by migrants heading to the United States. 

Guatemala has been a major transit country for decades for migrants from Latin America and beyond as they travel north to Mexico’s border with the United States.

Guatemalan authorities have said the group has operated for several years while accumulating millions of quetzals, the local currency.

“This organisation made use of police agents, corrupting them in order to guarantee the trajectory of the people who they were trafficking across the country,” Jimenez said in a video message.

The interior ministry noted that a prior arrest of two people who were illegally transporting 10 migrants from Uzbekistan through Guatemala had led to the operation that ultimately dismantled the network.