Police rescue 20 exploited women, including minors, from human trafficking network in Bávaro

Bavaro-Punta Cana – Twenty women of different nationalities, including minors, were rescued during an operation to dismantle a human trafficking network in Bávaro-Punta Cana.

The operation, led by agents from the Department of Investigation against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Human Beings, together with the Special Investigation Unit for Transnational Crimes (DEIDET), also resulted in the arrest of five people in the province of La Altagracia.

The intervention was also supported by the Investigation Department of the Special Prosecution Service against Human Smuggling and Trafficking (PETT).

The operation carried out in Bávaro-Punta Cana was the result of a thorough investigation launched in 2023 after information was obtained about a criminal network that was engaged in sexual exploitation in an abandoned house known as “La Mansión.”

The network, led by Domingo Lorenzo Santana “Wellington,” 44, operated a bar where victims were sexually exploited. The others arrested were Reyna Julissa Solano Monción, 27; Marinelys Familia Ogando, 45; Berlin Erisme (alias “Obama”), 30, and Richard de la Cruz Camacho (alias “El Pa” or “Paz”), 46.

The investigation revealed that the network recruited women and minors from several provinces of the country, including the National District, Santiago de los Caballeros, Puerto Plata and La Romana, and then transported them to Bávaro-Punta Cana, where they were housed and displayed in shop windows for sexual exploitation.
During the operation, authorities arrested the network members and freed the victims, who are now receiving assistance and protection.