Spain's National Police have arrested a Peruvian and a Costa Rican fugitive in Madrid for serious sexual abuses against minors in their home countries. These detentions mark the anniversary of Operation Peluche, which has captured 35 individuals in a year. Both are in provisional prison awaiting extraditions that could take years.
Operation Peluche, driven by the National Police's Fugitive Location Section, marks one year fighting serious crimes of sexual abuse against minors. In October 2025, it culminated this anniversary with the arrest of two Latin American fugitives in the Madrid region: a Peruvian in Fuenlabrada on October 10 and a Costa Rican in Aranjuez on October 14.
Neither had prior records in Spain or their home countries. They led normal lives with family and acquaintances, without using fake documents, according to police sources. A judge ordered their provisional imprisonment until extraditions are resolved, which "can take months or even years" depending on the detainees' willingness, the sources added.
The Peruvian abused and sexually assaulted his partner's underage sister in Peru for eight years. He contacted the victim via social media to check if she was alone, entered through the roof of an adjacent house, built trust by watching movies, and then took her to the bedroom to assault her. He recorded the acts, discovered by his partner, who questioned the minor; she confessed out of fear of reprisals. Interpol notified the search at the end of September.
The Costa Rican, in Colón, Costa Rica, paid for drinks for a minor family acquaintance to intoxicate her and took her to a motel in San Antonio de Belén, where he used his physical superiority to assault her despite her resistance. The detention request arrived in mid-September.
To date, the operation has arrested 35 fugitives for these crimes against minors, a priority objective for the National Police.