Forced into prostitution and drugs: four women freed from the tentacles of a criminal group

BarcelonaThe offers on the internet promised stable and well-paid jobs in Spain. And the flight from South America to Barajas airport in Madrid was also supported by the contractor. When they arrived in the State, they discovered that it was all a lie. They were young, poor women in their countries of origin who were looking for a new life with a better future. When they landed, they were informed that this future was to work as prostitutes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They were threatened and coerced: they had no other way out and had accumulated a debt of 4,000 euros (precisely for the flight and the paid trip) that they had to pay with their bodies. Their destiny was to live in a poor apartment, mostly in Barcelona, ​​​​in unsanitary conditions, and sleep crammed on mattresses in a room because the others were used for prostitution.

The National Police announced this Monday that it has dismantled a criminal organization that trafficked women and forced them into prostitution. Investigators have arrested 14 people, including the leader of the gang, and the vast majority of the arrests, up to nine, have taken place in the city of Barcelona. The other arrests have been made in Martorell, Seville and Las Palmas. Only one of the detainees has been remanded in custody.

Barcelona was the center of operations for the group, which also had branches in other parts of the State. The police have managed to free four women and close down four flats where they were kept locked up, with few exits to the outside, and all controlled, and where they were forced to take drugs. However, they had to pay all the day-to-day expenses and suffered constant power and water cuts.

The organization was an organized and hierarchical gang that the National Police had been investigating since 2023. The infrastructure began in South America, where they had recruiters of women, and ended in Spain, where there was even one call center to receive calls from clients who wanted sexual services. Seven women worked in that space and were also exploited at work. All of this provided high profits: the National Police has detected that the leader of the gang had received more than 800,000 euros in payments in recent years. These were operations carried out by mobile phone and came from the illegal activity of the organization.

Drug trafficking

A criminal activity that did not end with the sexual exploitation of women. The gang made even more profit by selling drugs to clients who came to the brothels, such as cocaine, tusi (also known as pink cocaine) and amphetamines, as well as drugs for erectile dysfunction. Drugs that they also forced to take from the victims. In fact, during the operation, 35 grams of cocaine, 337 grams of amphetamine, 11 grams of cannabis and 98 pills for erectile dysfunction were seized. In addition, jewelry worth 30,000 euros and 4,530 euros in cash were seized.