Eleven arrested for human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Madrid: witchcraft, intimate photos and fines used as control weapons
The National Police dismantled three human trafficking networks in Madrid, rescued 11 women—one a minor aged 15—and arrested eleven people in separate operations.
Three operations against human trafficking in Madrid result in eleven arrests and eleven women freed
The Central Unit for Immigration Networks and Document Falsification (Ucrif) of the National Police has dismantled three human trafficking and forced prostitution schemes in Madrid, according to ABC. In the course of the operations, 11 women were rescued, one of them a minor aged only 15 years old, and eleven other people were arrested. Only two of those arrested were remanded in custody.
The investigations made it possible to dismantle two criminal organisations and one criminal group operating in different parts of the capital.
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Operation Elfo: women brought from Paraguay, controlled through witchcraft
The first of the three operations, called Operation Elfo, began in October of last year following a complaint by a victim. The woman had been brought from Paraguay under the pretext of working in Spain, but was forced to engage in prostitution in a flat on Calle del Elfo, in the Pueblo Nuevo neighbourhood (Ciudad Lineal).
In that property, a teenage relative of one of the so-called mamis operated up to six telephone lines simultaneously, informed customers about prices and services, and managed a flow of up to one hundred customers daily.
The gang retained half of the women's earnings and also charged them rent for the room, food, laundry and hygiene items. They did not provide condoms: they forced them to work without protection, which resulted in sexually transmitted infections requiring chronic medical treatment, according to the National Police. The victims could not leave the property freely, were subject to strict rules and monitored through cameras.
The five arrested individuals, all Paraguayan nationals, resorted to witchcraft to threaten and coerce the women, creating, according to police, "an environment of constant surveillance". They also forced them to use narcotics. On 22 April, three of the suspects were arrested; a third was located and arrested in Alicante. In total, four women were rescued from that flat.
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Second operation: intimate photos and a "publicist" contract as a trap
The second operation was carried out across three locations: two flats on Calle de Canillas (Chamartín) and Calle de Muller (Tetuán), where the victims were exploited, and a chalet on Calle de la Escalinata, in Guadarrama, where the ringleader was hiding. Three people were arrested and three other women, of Spanish, Moroccan and Colombian nationality, were freed.
The modus operandi began with social media: a friend informed the victims of a webpage where a man offered work. That individual requested photographs of the women naked and published them on a contacts portal without their consent, using them as bait to attract customers.
The women were incorporated into an instant messaging group from which the organiser controlled both their movements and their appointments. The ringleader forced them to sign a contract in which he appeared as a "publicist". Those who tried to distance themselves from the network were threatened with disclosing to their families what they did for a living.
The periods of exploitation extended twelve hours during the day, so as not to generate complaints from neighbours at night. Customers received a code by message before going to the property. The network also offered discount vouchers. The investigation began thanks to an anonymous complaint from the victims themselves.
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Third operation: Venezuelan women deceived with job offers, fined for arriving late
The third criminal group operated from a flat on Calle de Leganitos, in the Centro district, at a short distance from a National Police station. The investigation began on 13 January and concluded with four arrests on 21 April: a Spanish man, a Sahrawi man, a Venezuelan woman and a Dominican woman. Two of them were remanded in custody.
All of the victims were Venezuelan. The recruiters took advantage of their high vulnerability in their country of origin and attracted them with false job offers in Spain. Once in Madrid, they forced them to work seven days a week and punished them with fines of 100 euros for being absent or arriving late. In addition, they imposed a debt of 10,000 euros that they had to settle.
As in the other cases, the use of condoms was prohibited. Abortive pills were used and some women became pregnant; others contracted sexually transmitted infections.
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The three operations form part of the sustained activity of Ucrif against human trafficking networks in the capital. The Superior Police Headquarters of the National Police of Madrid confirmed the results in an official statement.
Source: ABC