Argentine detained in Paraguay: children's clothing, sex toys and a Russian citizen in his house
Ariel Fernando Morán, a 55-year-old Argentine, was detained in Asunción alongside a missing adolescent. The search of his residence revealed evidence pointing to human trafficking.
Argentine detained in Paraguay with missing adolescent: search revealed footage, drugs and bloodstained clothing
"They took me for a fool," declared Ariel Fernando Morán, a 55-year-old Argentine, when detained on Tuesday 28 July by Paraguayan police alongside a 17-year-old adolescent who had been missing for 48 hours. The subsequent search of his residence in San Bernardino, 50 kilometres from Asunción, contradicted that account. According to infobae.com, officers seized computers with filming equipment, sex toys, syringes and several garments in small sizes, two of them with apparent bloodstains.
Morán was charged with serious coercion, violation of parental authority and drug possession. The prosecution also requested preventive detention on grounds of flight risk, as he has no ties to Paraguay.
The beginning: a rural fair and a dinner
The story began on Friday 24 July, when the adolescent—from Santaní, in the interior of the country—arrived in Asunción with two friends to visit a rural exhibition. Morán approached the group and invited them to go out. The two friends rejected the proposal; the minor accepted a dinner invitation and left with him.
"We went to eat a schnitzel at a small stall and then I took her to the amusement park to ride on a ferris wheel," the detainee told the press. "She told me she was 19 years old and was studying Commercial Engineering," he justified himself.
Total control: telephone confiscated and false messages
According to the judicial reconstruction, Morán took the young woman's telephone and prevented her from contacting her family. When her parents wrote to their daughter's mobile phone, he responded by impersonating her. The family began to suspect because the writing style did not match that of the adolescent. When the father asked her to call him, the accused stopped answering, and the family immediately filed a missing person report.
"We issued a search and location order, and within an hour she was located," prosecutor María Isabel Arnold, of Unit No. 2 Specialised in Fighting Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Asunción, explained to infobae.com.
Location on the Northern Riverside
The discovery was made at an amusement park on Asunción's Northern Riverside (Costanera Norte), following a trace of the minor's telephone, which was found inside a Toyota Hilux pickup truck bearing Argentine registration plates in which Morán was travelling. In the vehicle, officers from the Anti-Narcotics Department seized medications, alcoholic beverages, women's clothing, a video camera, mobile telephones and 20 grammes of cocaine distributed in four packages.
The search: weightier evidence
The operation at the San Bernardino residence, where it is presumed the adolescent spent two nights, yielded more substantive evidence. "We seized six notebooks, five mobile telephones, two iPads, a digital recorder (DVR), two USB devices, 436 grammes of cannabis, a digital scale, syringes, medications and several sex toys. In addition, we found several garments in small sizes, two of them with stains that, in principle, would be blood and which will be subjected to forensic analysis," Arnold described.
Police commissioner Juan Pereira noted, in a conversation with ABC Paraguay, that in the residence they found a room with a large bed and equipment arranged for filming. "These recordings are subsequently sold for high prices in major cities, particularly in Europe, sold on the black market. That is a presumption, it still has to be proven, but based on all the evidence being seized, we can now point to a case of human trafficking," Pereira said.
Prosecutor Arnold confirmed that, whilst the current charges refer to serious coercion and violation of parental authority, she does not rule out expanding the accusation.
The Russian citizen and the accused's son
During the search, officers found a Russian citizen in the residence, which opened a new line of inquiry. In basic English, the woman stated she was the partner of Morán's son. Faced with a language barrier, prosecutor Arnold contacted the Russian consul in Paraguay to act as translator. Following the conversation, the official confirmed the relationship and ruled out that the woman was being detained or was a victim of any criminal act.
The accused's son, of Argentine and Italian nationality, was not present at the residence at the time of the operation and will be called to testify.
Two women report similar experiences
As the investigation advances, two women contacted Paraguayan media to recount similar experiences with Morán. "What they reported is terrifying. What we found in the search matches what they described. One of them said: 'I hope they find the computer, there are lots of photos and videos of adolescents there'," Arnold noted.
One of the women told Monumental 1080 AM radio in Paraguay that she met the Argentine when working as a domestic employee in his residence. According to her account, just one week after starting her duties, Morán confessed his romantic interest and asked her to stop working to begin a relationship. Shortly afterwards, episodes of violence began. "He took my telephone, he prohibited me from speaking with relatives and he hit me. Every time he beat me he would lock me away for up to five days without communication," she stated.
When she attempted to escape, the accused threatened her with harming her family. "He told me he was going to kill them, that he was going to kidnap my 16-year-old sister and that he was going to send me her fingers if I didn't return to him," she recounted.
The same woman reported that Morán transported her to Argentina under threats. According to her account, at a toll booth he took out a firearm and a knife, pointed it at her head and held the knife to her neck, threatening to kill her if she asked for help.
Source: Google News AR — Crime