Police have uncovered a human trafficking ring in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, that used a university employee’s access to school records to select victims.

Police arrested Lorenzo N., who worked in administration department at the Autonomous University of Guerrero. It is the only arrest in the case so far.

Police learned of the ring after one of its victims escaped on January 18. Identified only as Gloria, the woman managed to escape from the safe house where she had been held. Based on the information she provided, authorities raided the house and freed five other women, three of whom were minors.

Chilpancingo Police chief Edgar Caín Pérez reported that members of the raid discovered sedatives in the safe house along with video recording equipment. The six rescued women testified that their captors had forced them to record pornographic videos and perform sexual acts for customers.

State authorities are currently working to uncover the extent of Lorenzo N.’s role in the human trafficking network and to identify others who were involved. The president of the university encouraged police to fully investigate the former employee: “If the young man was involved in anything illegal, let him be investigated.”

The six women, five of whom are high school students, may not have been the trafficking operation’s only victims.

Police are investigating a possible link between the network and the disappearance of undergraduate student Unali Monserrath Nava Landín, who was studying in the school of public management, where Lorenzo N. was an administrative employee.

Source: Milenio (sp)