Six Nicaraguan women, including a minor, who were sexually exploited in a bar in Upala, Costa Rica, were rescued in mid-September by the Costa Rican Immigration Police in a sting operation in coordination with the public prosecutor’s office and the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME).

During the operation, five suspects were arrested at the Pino Bar in Santa Clara de Upala for prostituting the women and holding them against their will. The suspects appear to be part of a human smuggling organization directed by two women, a mother and a daughter, with the last names of Martínez Laínez and Murillo Martínez respectively.

An investigation into the operation began about six months ago and determined that the smugglers enticed the poor women in Nicaragua with false promises of work in Costa Rica.

Also detained in the September 15 police bust in northern Costa Rica were three men with the last names Pérez Noguera, Distritos Álvarez and Montoya Campos. The latter two are Costa Rican police officers who served as part of the police force in Delicias de Upala, a town bordering Nicaragua in northern Costa Rica.

“Once the victims arrived in Costa Rica they were stripped of their passports, threatened with firearms” and forced to have sexual relations inside and outside the bar, said Esteban Obando, head of the Costa Rican Immigration Police agency.

The women reported they were instructed to charge 13,000 colones for having sex with clients inside the bar, and 20,000 colones (about $34 dollars) if a client requested sexual services off site.

“The documented sexual exploitation against the minor … aggravates the crimes and increases the applicable sentence from eight to 16 years in prison (for suspects),” added Obando.

Police investigators obtained evidence showing that officer Montoya Campos took advantage of his position as police to inform the human smuggling ring leader, Martínez Laínez, as to the whereabouts of police, and where and when police operations would take place so that she could hide the Nicaraguan women held in captivity.

In this way, the Nicaraguan women were hid and guarded in nearby wooded regions when police raided the bar.

The detainees were transferred to the Public Security Ministry in Upala to be charged with trafficking in persons for purposes of sexual exploitation. The victims were transferred to a safe place to safeguard their physical integrity, and to receive medical and psychological care, said police in a statement.