Human Trafficking Watch

New information emerges about Pakistani law-enforcement personnel tied to human trafficking in the region.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | 150 gangs of drug, human smugglers unearthed:

ISLAMABAD: An intelligence agency has unearthed more than 150 gangs of drug smugglers and human traffickers and warned the government of a looming diplomatic embarrassment over the issue.

According to sources, the agency suggested that law-enforcement personnel posted along the Iranian border should be transferred periodically because postings for long durations provided them an opportunity to develop links with human traffickers and their agents.

Expressing concern over human and drug smuggling to Iran, the agency warned the prime minister and relevant authorities that relations with Iran might be affected if the menace was not eradicated.

It said Iranian authorities were disturbed over a rise in human and drug trafficking from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It said human smuggling from Afghanistan to Pakistan was also continuing. The routes of Chaman, Nushki, Rabat, Chagai, Gulistan, Mand Ballu, Turbat and Punjgur and Taftan were being used by the gangs to take people to Iran for onward journey to Europe, it said.

The report said that the number of illegal Pakistani immigrants deported by Iran had increased and more than 1,100 people had been deported during the current year. Most of the illegal immigrants belonged to Gujranwala division.

The Project on Government Oversight released a report that is less than flattering about the ArmorGroup, a government contractor who provides security in Afghanistan. This article is a must-read for an understanding of the history of American contractors in war zones as it relates to sex crimes.

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

North Carolina has been recognized as a major human trafficking hub on the east coast. It wasn’t too long ago (2007) that the state passed a resolution to apologize for the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.

N.C. human trafficking case shows plight of girls forced into prostitution | McClatchy:

Each day, Flores prayed to Santa Muerte, or “Saint Death,” joined by the teenage girls whom he forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a day.

Flores, 45, was a notorious operator in a city that has become a center for sex trafficking along the East Coast.

Local and federal authorities are not sure how extensive the Charlotte sex rings have become. They say Flores’ ring brought in hundreds of young women each year to work as prostitutes.

Flores was convicted of trafficking in April. But authorities say other pimps in Charlotte continue to prey on young girls from poor countries.

“I don’t think we really realized how big this was,” says Delbert Richburg, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Investigations in Charlotte. “We’re probably just scratching the surface.”

The growth is so extensive that this month ICE stationed a team of agents in Charlotte to focus on human trafficking, smuggling and exploitation. Across the Carolinas, immigrant sex rings have been broken up in Monroe, Durham and Columbia.