Interpol: 4,400 Victims From 119 Countries Rescued

An Interpol operation dubbed “Operation Liberata III” has rescued 4,414 potential victims of human trafficking and detected 12,992 irregular migrants across 119 countries. A statement by Interpol says that the operation that ran between November 10 to 21, 2025, also resulted in the arrest of 3,744 suspects, including more than 1,800 for human trafficking and migrant smuggling offences, based on initial reporting from participating countries. During the operation, law enforcement agencies mobilised more than 14,000 officers, conducting hotspot surveillance and targeted raids, as well as reinforced border controls. As a result, authorities across Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone reported extensive action against pyramid-style human trafficking networks, leading to the rescue of more than 200 victims and the disruption of multiple recruitment and exploitation hubs. These schemes, specific to Central and West Africa, involve recruiting victims under the pretence of work abroad, charging exorbitant “recruitment fees”, then forcing them into recruiting friends or family members in exchange for improved conditions. The operation revealed that trafficking-fuelled scam schemes remain a serious concern in Asia and Africa; however, improved intelligence, detection and screening mechanisms are resulting in more arrests and hundreds of victims being repatriated. “In Myanmar, authorities carried out multiple actions against suspected scam centres where a single raid uncovered some 450 workers in a compound. Electronic devices linked to sca...