Mexican agency awarded prize for subverting human trafficking organization

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave to Mexico's Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) the Award for International Cooperation for their work in dismantling the transnational organization of the Granados family, a human trafficking criminal group.

Omar García Harfuch, head of the AIC, receive the prize during a ceremony held in New York last Friday.

The investigation into the Granados family began in October 2011, and it was through the joint cooperation of the AIC, Mexico's Federal Police, the FBI, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that this organization – operating for approximately 10 years – was finally brought down.

Last year, they managed to locate and arrest the current leaders of the organization, which conducted its business in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala .

At the moment, 31 individuals – members of the Granados family and its associates – have been sentenced or are pending trial for crimes related to human trafficking.

“This investigation is the symbolic example of the excellent coordination and international cooperation bonds between the law enforcement agencies of the United States and Mexico,” said the director of International Law Enforcement Affairs of Mexico's Office of the Attorney General, Francisco Almazán.

The Granados family lived luxuriously and it is known they economically supported the community of Tenancingo with donations for celebrations or infrastructure, in order to become an inspiration for the people of the community, especially the young people.

Their victims were forced into prostitution in Mexico City, the State of Mexico, and Puebla, and then moved to Sonora to be illegally brought into the U.S.

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