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Chilean Investigative Police (PDI) officials conducted a security operation on Tuesday that led to the dismantlement of a Tren de Aragua human trafficking cell that operated “steps away” from the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago.

The operation, led by officers from PDI’s Bitrap Human Trafficking Brigade, reportedly resulted in the arrest of four Venezuelan nationals who will be charged on Thursday. The officials also rescued a group of 12 women, all reported victims of the trafficking gang, held captive and forced into prostitution. A one-year-old child, presumed to be the son of one of the trafficked women, was also rescued by the Chilean police officials, according to local reports.

The four arrested individuals were reportedly in charge of “coordinating and transporting these women to the places where they provided their sexual services” and of collecting the money from their clients. The victims were forced to pay 350,000 Chilean pesos (roughly $353) per week to the Tren de Aragua members.

Chilean radio station Radio Bío Bío reported on Tuesday that the now-dismantled Tren de Aragua trafficking cell had its base of operations “less than three blocks away” from the Chilean presidential palace of La Moneda, located in the center of the capital city of Santiago. The gang also operated a “torture center” not too far from their main headquarters.

The security operation stemmed from an investigation launched by Chilean officials in October after the body of a 20-year-old Venezuelan male was found burned and with 15 gunshot wounds in the chest in Colina, a commune located in the northern area of the Santiago Metropolitan region. The body was found abandoned inside a suitcase that was then later set on fire.

The investigation determined that both the deceased man and his murderers were linked to the dismantled Tren de Aragua human trafficking and sexual exploitation cell.

“We are reporting the arrest of four Venezuelan citizens. They would correspond to members of Tren de Aragua who are believed to have actively participated in the murder of a 20-year-old man on October 5,” Jorge Abatte, head of PDI’s National Headquarters of Crimes Against Persons told reporters.

Sergio Soto, an official from the Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH) of the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office, stated that the 20-year-old man was killed over his “non-compliance with regulations” related to the sexual exploitation of the gang’s victims after the man allegedly engaged in a romantic relationship with one of the trafficked women.

Each of the four Venezuelan detainees, Soto further detailed, participated in the “different stages that resulted in the murder of this person, through 15 wounds in his chest, and later the transfer of his body to the commune of Colina, where it was burned.”

The man is believed believed to have been killed at the torture center that the Tren de Aragua operated near its main headquarters in central Santiago.

Abatte reportedly explained that the murdered man “was not authorized to carry out certain actions, mainly of a sexual nature, with some of these women, which generated an order to cause the death of this person.”

According to Radio Bío-Bío the number of detained individuals could increase as both PDI and ECOH continue with their proceedings.

Another Tren de Aragua human trafficking cell composed of 13 individuals was dismantled by PDI officials in late April. The trafficking cell had successfully infiltrated Chile’s national police and received direct information and collaboration from PDI officials.

The cell reportedly kept at least 100 sexual exploitation victims in the vicinity of Plaza de Armas, Santiago’s main square, and operated in some of the city’s historical buildings, where the victims were “permanently monitored and controlled.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.