Major findings show evolving trafficking patterns with increased forced labor, domestic servitude, organ removal, and the continued use of digital platforms to facilitate exploitation.

Interpol coordinated Operation Liberterra III across 119 countries with 14,000 officers from November 10 to November 21, yielding 3,744 arrests and the protection of more than 4,414 potential trafficking victims while exposing nearly 13,000 individuals involved in illegal migration schemes.

Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said trafficking networks are evolving, leveraging new routes, digital platforms, and targeting vulnerable populations, with notable activity involving South Americans and Asians in Africa.

The broader picture shows shifts in smuggling routes, from traditional coastal and cross-border networks to new pathways that connect Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

Adetayo contributed reporting on this story for the Associated Press.

Regional actions across West and Central Africa, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone, rescued over 200 victims and disrupted multiple recruitment and exploitation hubs.

Migrants continue to be intercepted along coastal routes in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco and Algeria, while land-based networks persist in Peru and Brazil, underscoring ongoing trafficking and smuggling flows.

Victims are often recruited under the pretext of foreign employment, with traffickers charging high fees and urging recruitment of others in a pyramid-like scheme, while coercion extends into forced labor and even criminal activity such as internet fraud.

The investigation highlights alarming cases including a Belize glass factory labor situation, a girl sold to a 73-year-old man in El Salvador, and an eight-year-old boy kidnapped for organ removal in Mozambique, alongside networks tied to sexual exploitation, forced prostitution debt schemes, and trafficking linked to beauty salons in Spain.

Authorities opened at least 720 new investigations as part of the operation, with coordinated efforts across 196 member countries to disrupt networks and safeguard victims.