An eight-year-old boy kidnapped for organ removal is among 4,414 people police say have been safeguarded from human trafficking in a global operation.
The child, from Mozambique, was discovered as part of the Interpol co-ordinated initiative dubbed Operation Liberterra III, which involved more than 14,000 officers across 119 countries.
In the UK police were able to safeguard a Romanian national trafficked to Scotland under false promises of employment and subjected to sexual exploitation.
Transported across Europe then brought to Scotland by ferry, the woman’s identification documents were withheld once she arrived in Dundee.
More victims were discovered in Spain, where a criminal network was using beauty salons and massage parlours in Barcelona and Marbella to traffic women for sexual exploitation.
The 21 women, mostly of Colombian origin, endured constant surveillance and abuse, and were forced to repay debts of €6,000 (£5,200) through prostitution. The same premises were also used for drug sales.
Meanwhile, in Costa Rica, police arrested a man known as “El Gordo” who was accused of pressuring underage girls from a technical college to record explicit videos.
His partner, a teacher at the same institution, was also arrested, with authorities believing she facilitated his access to potential victims.
There was a further breakthrough in Kazakhstan, where a bogus taxi service was uncovered using violence and intimidation to force victims into prostitution in multiple saunas.
Kazakh police seized cash, weapons, bank cards, and several vehicles, as well as uncovering a money-laundering scheme used to purchase real estate and assets.
And more than 200 people were rescued from human traffickers across Benin, Burkina Faso, the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
The victims were lured in with false promises of work abroad, charged exorbitant “recruitment fees”, then forced to rope in friends and family in exchange for improved conditions.
Authorities in Mali identified 47 Nigerian women who had been trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation.
Others discovered during the operation include child labourers working in a glass factory in Belize, and a young girl sold to a 73-year old man in El Salvador.
The operation also targeted illegal migration, with multiple high-risk sea departures intercepted.
One such sailing involved 245 migrants departing from Senegal, with further cases recorded off the coasts of Guinea-Bissau and Morocco.
Algerian authorities intercepted a large inflatable boat carrying 71 people of various nationalities, including seven children.
Border checks played a part, with Romanian officials uncovering a cache of military hardware on an incoming truck declared to be carrying metal parts.
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The discovery at the Moldovan border intercepted rocket launchers, grenade launchers, ammunition and combat drone components, leading to two individuals being detained in Moldova, and a third in Romania.
To co-ordinate the global Interpol operation, special units were established four countries: Algeria, El Salvador, Laos, and the UK.
It detected 12,992 irregular migrants across the participating countries, leading to more than 720 new investigations.
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Interpol secretary general Valdecy Urquiza said: “The level of enforcement action highlights strong cooperation, but the wider trends which have been revealed are just as important.
“Criminal networks are evolving, exploiting new routes, digital platforms and vulnerable populations.
“Identifying these patterns allows law enforcement to anticipate threats, disrupt networks earlier and better protect victims.”
