Police searching for a 2-year-old boy who disappeared from a market in southern Mexico took authorities to a house where 23 kidnapped children were detained and forced to sell trinkets on the street.
The children were kept in miserable conditions and physically and psychologically abused and manipulated to sell artisan carvings and embroidered fabrics in the colonial city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, authorities said.
Most of the victims were between 2 and 15 years old, but police said they discovered three babies between the ages of 3 and 20 months during the house raid on Monday. Three women have been arrested and may face child trafficking charges, Chiapas state prosecutors said.
A poster of the missing Dylan Esaú Gómez Pérez, 2 years old, who disappeared in a public market in San Cristóbal on June 30. (AP Photo / Fernando Llano)
THE MEXICO POSTER BEHIND THE BRASÉ ATTACKS EMERGED AS “THE MOST URGENT THREAT” TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE COUNTRY
Authorities believe the older victims were also used to lure or kidnap the younger children to add them to the group. All of the rescued children are now in the custody of child welfare officials.
“According to the children, many of them were forced to go outside to sell things and, in addition, they were forced to return with a certain minimum amount of money for the right to obtain food and a place to sleep at home, “State Attorney Jorge Llaven said.
Market in San Cristóbal Old Market
According to the video released by prosecutors, many of the children slept on what appeared to be cardboard sheets and blankets on a concrete floor and suffered from malnutrition.
Police were originally investigating the disappearance of Dylan Esaú Gómez Pérez, who disappeared in a public market in San Cristóbal on June 30.
A surveillance camera from a nearby store showed a girl about 13 years old grabbed the boy by the hand and led him away.
Juana Pérez, whose 2.5-year-old son Dylan is missing, wears a T-shirt with his photo and the Spanish phrase for “Dylan, we’re still looking for you.” (AP Photo / Fernando Llano)
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Despite the gruesome discovery at the home, prosecutors did not confirm that Pérez was one of the victims who were rescued from forced labor and his mother is pleading with authorities to extend the investigation to find him.
“None of the (rescued) children is my son,” Pérez’s mother said in an interview with local news reporters outside the National Palace in Mexico City, where she traveled to ask President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to help find to his son.
“I haven’t heard anything about my son,” she said through tears.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
