More than 1,000 people have been arrested in a worldwide operation against human trafficking coordinated by Interpol, as law enforcement agencies across the Americas and Europe simultaneously pursued fugitive criminals, drug networks and a violent extortion ring in a series of unconnected but parallel cross-border actions. The operations, conducted in early June, highlight an intensifying reliance on international police cooperation to disrupt transnational organised crime.

The Interpol-led ‘Global Chain’ operation, involving 40,000 officers from 59 countries, identified 2,070 victims or potential victims, the majority women, according to the agency. Among those rescued were 406 people, including 83 Brazilians, trafficked to Cambodia and forced into online scams, Brazilian federal police said. European authorities dismantled a network that lured underage girls via social media into prostitution across Belgium and France, arresting 17 suspects. Interpol noted an emerging trend of Latin American victims trafficked to Europe for forced labour, with minors from the continent accounting for about 10 per cent of identified victims.

Separately, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a 55-year-old Brazilian national, Denny Marucci, who had been convicted in Brazil of raping a 4-year-old child and sentenced to 20 years. He was arrested in Florida after entering the US on an Italian passport and overstaying a visa waiver, US officials said. In Virginia, a twice-deported Salvadoran man, Juan Arevalo Mendez, was charged with rape and abduction; the Department of Homeland Security urged local authorities to honour an immigration detainer. Colombian migration officers at Medellín’s international airport detained two Colombian men wanted on domestic warrants, one for violent sexual assault and the other for theft and conspiracy, as they attempted to travel to Mexico and from Brazil. In the Medellín metropolitan area, police reported the capture of 26 foreign nationals this year on Interpol red notices, most recently two alleged drug traffickers from Costa Rica and Colombia.

In the United States, the FBI and local police conducted more than 50 raids across California, Canada and Europe targeting the Lawrence Bishnoi criminal network, which US prosecutors allege is responsible for assassinations, extortion and cross-border drug smuggling. Authorities arrested around two dozen individuals and seized heroin, cocaine, firearms and cash, according to US federal officials. The network, whose leader is imprisoned in India, has been designated a terrorist organisation by Canada.

All operations remain under active investigation, with authorities in multiple countries continuing to pursue additional suspects and provide support to identified victims.