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Europa Press
Malaga
Monday, 11 November 2024, 16:54
National Police officers have smashed a sex trafficking ring in Malaga province and freed 42 people. The victims were forced to be available 24 hours a day to attend to clients and were subjected to strict rules and strict surveillance by a criminal network of which 19 people were arrested, including the ringleader, a man also under investigation for sexually assaulting one of the victims on several occasions.
In a statement, National Police officers said they carried out searches in two brothels, in Cártama and Malaga city, with both venues ordered to be shut down. The police investigation started in August last year, based on information that a criminal organisation was recruiting vulnerable women in order to sexually exploit them in Malaga province. The network recruited most of the victims in their countries of origin, mainly Colombia, where the women wanted to flee challenging personal and economic situations.
The working conditions imposed by the scheme were abusive. They had to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The victims were also subjected to practices that endangered their health. One of the brothels searched had a room that simulated a kind of cell where women were subjected to humiliating experiences and forced to have sex without the use of a condom.
Victims were also obliged to offer their clients drugs (cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis), as well as erectile dysfunction drugs, according to investigators.
Victims were rotated from time to time between establishments in the network to prevent them from building trust among themselves or with clients. Investigators also detected a system of tokens (like those used in poker) in the brothels, which the women could obtain from the staff of the clubs when the clients invited them for drinks or contracted any extra service.
The more money the clients spent with them in the club, the more tokens for the women, obtaining a percentage of the profit which they subsequently exchanged for money.
The brothels tried to conceal their real activity under the guise of being hostelry venues. Police discovered they lacked the necessary permits and that they issued false invoices in order to justify their operations.
Police carried out searches in two establishments in Malaga city and Cártama, as well as in the home of the ringleader of the organisation, seizing 47,000 euros in cash (30,000 euros hidden in the boot of a vehicle) and various drugs. Police also blocked 9.5 million euros in bank accounts and assets.
The 19 detainees have all been charged according to their degree of involvement in the criminal network. Two of the main suspects have been ordered to be sent to prison.
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