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J.M.L
Toledo
Wednesday, 31 July 2024, 16:23
They were recruited in their countries of origin - mainly Colombia and Venezuela - with false offers of work in Spain in order to leave behind very compromising personal and economic situations in exchange for salaries of up to 5,000 euros a week. However, once in Spain, they were forced to work as prostitutes under strict rules such as the prohibition to put on weight - if they did , they were expelled and had to pay a fee of around 4,000 euros. The women also had to maintain certain standards of appearance and be available 24 hours a day from Monday to Sunday with the obligation to be ready in five minutes when requested by clients.
In addition, the women forced into sex work could only leave the brothels on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 1pm and 3pm to go shopping or to the bank or the pharmacy. In this situation were 32 women, who have now been freed by the National Police in Toledo, Madrid and Malaga as part of an operation carried out with the specialised centre for the fight against the smuggling of migrants and people trafficking that the Ameripol agency set up in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). As a result of these investigations, 26 people have been arrested: nine in Madrid, five in Malaga and 12 in Toledo - including the two leaders of the organisation, who have been imprisoned.
The police investigations began in June 2023 when a victim alerted the police to the existence of this criminal network specialising in the recruitment of women in vulnerable situations in order to exploit them sexually in Spain. During the operation, numerous posters were found in the communal areas where the women lived with strict rules that, in case of non-compliance, entailed financial penalties of between 30 and 40 euros. Numerous employment contracts signed by the victims were also seized which, according to the police, led investigators to believe that around 600 women had been exploited in the last year in the four houses belonging to the criminal network, which are now closed down.
All of them were made to sign a contract in which they had to cede their image rights so that their image could be published on websites with adult content. They also had to live in unhealthy and cramped conditions in the same room, usually in the basements of the houses, with beds separated by curtains and with little ventilation. These conditions contrasted with the luxury of the part of the house used for prostitution. In the four closed houses, they were constantly monitored by video surveillance cameras in all rooms.
During the course of the investigation, the officers found that the victims were obliged to offer their clients various narcotic substances - cocaine, 2C-B and crystal meth - as well as erectile dysfunction medication. The operation involved the seizure of 40,000 euros in cash, a firearm with ammunition, various narcotic substances (cocaine, marijuana, hashish and 2C-B), 500 erectile dysfunction treatment pills, three vehicles, various electronic devices and numerous documents relevant to the investigation.
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