Four of the people arrested by the ISF for intending to "sell" a minor girl into sex work. (Credit: Screenshot of a video / Twitter / @LebISF)
BEIRUT — The Internal Security Forces thwarted a scam operation by a group of people who were allegedly intending to force a minor girl into sex work, the ISF said in a statement Friday.
The department for combating human trafficking and a unit from the judicial police arrested those involved.
The statement explained that the ISF obtained information that a Lebanese woman in her 30s had intended to "sell" her 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, alongside her current husband, “through an intermediary." In return, the woman allegedly hoped to receive $1,000 and the intermediary $400.
The girl would have been forced into a sex work ring led by the "seller," the ISF added.
The suspects were reportedly lured to Chiyah, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, ambushed and arrested by the authorities.
The alleged intermediary, a man of Syrian nationality, is a "known drug user and has a history of facilitating prostitution," according to the police.
He is among the people that were arrested.
The authorities also arrested a man who allegedly served as the connection between the intermediary and the girl's stepfather.
During police questioning reportedly conducted with a representative of the Association for the Protection of Juveniles present, the girl stated she had run away from her father's house to her mother's because she had been forced to beg on the streets.
The Association for the Protection of Juveniles told L'Orient Today that they can not comment on the case of the minor, since she has a judicial file pending.
The girl said during the investigation that she did not know of the plans her mother and stepfather allegedly had for her.
Following the arrests, the girl was reportedly handed over to a humanitarian organization.
According to the ISF statement, some of the people arrested confessed to their intention of scamming the man who intended to "buy" the girl.
Contacted by L'Orient Today to clarify this claim, the police did not comment.
Search operations are currently underway in search of the minor’s father, who is accused of forcing his children into begging.
Last Friday, the ISF dismantled a sex trafficking network exploiting young Syrian women in Rmeileh, in the Chouf district.