Costa Ricans and Panamanians marched Friday along their shared border to bring awareness to the problem of human trafficking, reported the Spanish news agency EFE.

The event came on the heels of the arrest of a Dominican man in Paso Canoas for alleged drug and human trafficking. He is accused of trafficking three Ecuadorian migrants who appear to have paid him to take them to the U.S.

The fifth Panama-Costa Rica Binational Walk was carried out with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Paso Canoas and the surrounding forest region with multiple unofficial routes has become a transit point for thousands of migrants seeking to travel to the United States over land through Central America, a phenomenon that has grown in recent years, said the IOM.

So far this year, Costa Rica has rescued 18 people who were being trafficked for such activities as sexual exploitation, indentured labor and servitude, and unofficial adoption of minors. The victims primarily where Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, Colombians, Ghanaians, and Congolese, said Laura Sánchez Solano, representative of the General Directorate of Immigration and Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.

In Panama over the past three years, at least 150 people have been rescued from human trafficking, and more than 14 criminal networks dedicated to the human trade have been dismantled, the secretary of the National Commission Against Trafficking in Persons, Rodrigo García told EFE.

“For the Government of Costa Rica the trafficking of people is worrisome. Each case is unique and the important thing is to continue seeking out the networks to continue to dismantle them. The two countries are working together,” continued Sánchez Solano.

The countries have established a joint permanent commission for the protection and assistance of migrants in vulnerable conditions to coordinate efforts on curbing human trafficking in the region.