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2026-07-25 23:46 UTC → 2026-07-26 13:39 UTC ·
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Chile Calama South American police crackdown expands regionally on trafficking networks
In The July 2026, Chilean authorities seized over 6,000 2026 police operations that began with a major seizure of counterfeit garments in Calama and later dismantled a human‑trafficking ring that had recruited foreign women with false job offers since at least 2021. Six Peruvian nationals were placed in preventive detention Calama, Chile, have expanded into a coordinated South‑American effort. Chilean prosecutors and the PDI dismantled the sexual‑exploitation ring, detaining six Peruvian suspects, rescuing ten women were rescued; investigators seized cash, electronic payment devices women, and accounting records, linking the operation seizing cash and electronic‑payment devices. In Argentina, federal investigators arrested six individuals linked to money‑laundering. Subsequent raids a narcotrafficking cell in late July increased the scale of the seizure, with cash exceeding 40 million Chilean pesos recovered. The same period saw parallel anti‑exploitation actions elsewhere Rosario, seizing cocaine, marijuana, weapons and cash, while in South America. Argentina’s Federal Police raided an illegal Buenos Aires a clandestine textile workshop in Buenos Aires, was shut down, freeing 16 exploited forced‑labour workers of Bolivian, Paraguayan and Argentine nationality and ordering placing the factory’s closure. Colombia’s National Police launched operators under human‑trafficking investigation. Colombian and Ecuadorian police held a preventive joint awareness campaign at the Rumichaca bridge on the Colombia‑Ecuador Rumichaka border, educating warning travelers about common trafficking tactics such as false employment false‑job offers and online romance scams. These coordinated efforts highlight romance‑scam tactics. Spanish police closed a broader restaurant in the Balearic Islands after uncovering labour violations and severe hygiene breaches, and Chilean authorities seized a French yacht operating illegal tourism in the Magallanes region. Collectively, these actions have rescued dozens of victims and seized significant illicit assets, underscoring an intensified regional push against trafficking networks trafficking, organized crime, and related illicit enterprises. exploitation across South America.