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A 16-year-old boy was rescued by authorities on Monday after his mother failed to pay a group of human traffickers for smuggling him into the U.S., according to The State.
The unidentified woman called police on Monday after traffickers kidnapped her son in Haralson County, Georgia, and attempted to bring him back to his home country, due to the woman’s inability to pay the smugglers, according to a report from The State.
The boy’s mother had initially paid the human traffickers a down payment last week and was scheduled to pick up her son at the Georgia Welcome Center in Haralson County on Monday. However, she was not able to pay the full amount, prompting the traffickers to kidnap the boy, The State reported. (RELATED: ‘Kamala Harris Tells Guatemalans Not To Come To The US’)
Authorities were alerted to the situation at approximately 1:17 pm when deputies from the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from the boy’s mother, according to a statement from the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook. An amber alert was issued with descriptions of the subjects shortly thereafter.
Updated media release. https://t.co/I0uwAktdmy pic.twitter.com/SKnsykccG9
— Haralson Sheriff (@HaralsonSheriff) June 7, 2021
“The mother called 911 and made the report. Deputies called out an investigator to help look for the juvenile believing that the smugglers were still close by. The juvenile along with several others were located at the Alabama Welcome Center in Alabama by Haralson County Deputies,” read part of the statement.
A total of five suspects, including a pregnant woman, were taken into custody by deputies from the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office, according to The State. The unidentified 16-year-old boy was taken back to the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office, according to a statement from their office.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline listed Georgia as the state with the 6th most human trafficking cases in 2019. The large majority of victims tended to be women and foreign nationals, according to The State.
