Bolivian prosecutors have identified 25 people who were offered jobs in Russia and wound up in the military in its war against Ukraine. File Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
July 16 (UPI) -- Bolivia's Attorney General's Office said it has opened three investigations into an alleged human trafficking network that allegedly deceived Bolivian citizens with fraudulent job offers to take them to Russia and recruit them to participate in the war against Ukraine.
Senior prosecutor Alejandra Rocha said during a press conference Thursday that the investigations stem from one complaint filed in May and another in July, along with a third from several families in the Santa Cruz department.
Prosecutors have identified 16 alleged victims: one in the first case, six in the second and nine in the third, Rocha said.
Rocha said the case is being investigated provisionally as human trafficking for the purpose of recruiting people to participate in armed conflicts and that, given its characteristics, could constitute a transnational crime.
