As others have said , if a gang member was on the flight why wasn't he detained once they had told their story?
Firstly, they did not actually board the flight, secondly it seems they have not been questioned (no interpreter) and so far we don’t know if the women knew who the ‘escort’ was, just a 'gang member’ keeping them under observation. If they really believed that, then maybe no escort was needed by the gang. They would of course be ‘met’ on arrival.
OK that's it for me. I know better than to speculate further, if and until, more accurate info comes to light. As I said above ' The jury is still out for me '