As part of the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking, Dominican authorities have arrested a man identified as Franklin Agustín, accused of trafficking migrants, especially Haitian children, whom he commercially exploits by forcing them to beg in a network he ran for his own benefit.

The Human Trafficking and Smuggling Department, headed by prosecutor Juan Osvaldo García, carried out exhaustive intelligence work to determine the "modus operandi", contacts, potential involvement and characteristics of the victims, who allowed to confirm that it was a criminal structure, headed by the accused Franklin Agustín.

His network recruited minors in Haiti, promising them a better life in the Dominican Republic. However, once in the country, they were forced to beg in different neighborhoods of Santiago, while those responsible profited from the money collected by the victims.

The accused, was presented Tuesday, May 16 in court. The Public Prosecutor's Office of Santiago filed with the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services a request for preventive detention as a coercive measure.

When presenting the request for coercive measures, the Public Ministry revealed the existence of at least 6 victims, between 9 and 15 years old, to whom Agustín imposed a daily quota that he collected.

The young victims were threatened and harassed by the accused, who gave them a card with a message asking for money to eat, to give the appearance of need. These extreme conditions led a 9-year-old boy to be the victim of a road accident while begging at a crossroads in the city. The accused abandoned him to his fate and the minor is currently receiving medical treatment due to the serious injuries sustained.

The Public Prosecutor pointed out that the obligation to beg imposed on the victims not only violates their dignity as human beings, but also puts them in grave danger and deprives them of the possibility of receiving an education, of developing and growing in a healthy way. Begging makes them dependent on people's goodwill, perpetuating their vulnerability.

S/ HaitiLibre