El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and National Civil Police (PNC) carried out five raids in San Salvador Centro in an investigation into the use of minors to sell drugs.[1] Two people were arrested, and a third arrest warrant was issued against people accused of forcing teenagers to distribute illegal substances.[1] The two held are a man, José Gabriel Cruz Aragón, and a woman, Zuleyma Beatriz Vásquez Garay, who police said is 36 and was detained in the barrio Candelaria.[2] Police said Vásquez Garay was detained in the barrio Candelaria, a neighbourhood of San Salvador Centro.[2]

The two are to be prosecuted for use of people in a vulnerable situation for crime, ill-treatment of children and trafficking in persons, and for possession with intent to traffic.[1] The case began in October 2026, when officers caught a 15-year-old boy selling drugs and he said adults beat him and forced him to distribute the substances.[1] A San Salvador prosecutor’s office representative said the searches covered properties in different parts of the capital.[1] During the raids the FGR seized cash, portions of drugs, mobile phones and other items.[1]

The FGR said the seized items would support the case it will present to the courts.[1] According to El Diario de Hoy, both will be brought before court, and the FGR is still investigating whether there are more suspects or more children affected.[3]

La Prensa Gráfica reported that the detentions were carried out on the morning of Friday 6 November in the barrio Santa Anita, in San Salvador.[4]