More than 250 child prostitutes were allegedly raped and branded with tattoos after being trafficked to a tourist city in Colombia.

Police in the northern city of Cartagena have arrested 18 people, including foreigners, hotel owners, police officers, a navy captain and a Colombian woman known as ‘Madame’.

The underage girls, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, are aged between 14 and 17 and were all allegedly raped, tattooed and forced into having sex with locals and tourists.

Liliana del Carmen Campos Puello, known as the ‘Madame’, is believed to be the network’s ringleader along with several unnamed Israelis.


‘Madame’ Liliana del Carmen Campos Puello was allegedly responsible for recruiting the girls from poor neighbourhoods (Picture: CEN)

Campos Puello posed for glamorous photos with piles of cash (Picture: CEN)

Campos Puello was allegedly responsible for recruiting the girls from poor neighbourhoods to sex parties under the guise that they were modelling assignments.



She allegedly helped them with passports and sent them money for expenses, but when the girls arrived, they were stripped of their documents and possessions and forced into prostitution.

According to reports, at least 250 minors were lured to Cartagena in one year, in what is being called the city’s largest sexual exploitation case.

Colombian police arrest Liliana del Carmen Campos Puello (Picture: CEN)

Police also arrested foreigners, hotel owners and police officers (Picture: CEN)

The girls were allegedly showcased in catalogues and forced to attend parties on luxury yachts and hotels.

The Attorney General’s Office said: ‘The Madame has a criminal record for heroin trafficking and illegal entrance into the United States.

‘Additionally, she was in charge of operating a prostitution service in the beach area, as well as using international contacts to organise events where the girls were forced to perform.’

Colombian President Elect Ivan Duque pledged to step up efforts to fight sex trafficking in Cartagena in the wake of the arrests.

‘We will not allow Cartagena to become a sexual tourism destination,’ Duque tweeted on Monday, promising to ‘attack human trafficking and the exploitation of women in our cities and tourist destinations.’

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