Gender-based violence

One of Spain's most wanted pimps arrested in Barcelona

The man was targeting women in need of money and exploiting them sexually

ARA
2 min
A patrol car of the Mossos in an archive image.

BarcelonaThe police arrested a 38-year-old man this Thursday, accused of crimes of sexual assault and threats. The detainee, who has already entered prison by order of the judge, is one of the most wanted pimps in Spain. Three courts from around the state had requested his arrest for similar crimes. He looked for girls who offered to do housework or other jobs through internet advertising portals and who were in a precarious economic situation. From there, he recruited them for prostitution and sexually exploited them.

The investigation began in early January with the case of a young woman who was in a situation of economic vulnerability due to covid-19. The young woman met a man who offered her sex in exchange for money and gave the girl's phone number to an acquaintance of his who, a few days later, called her and offered her to engage in prostitution. She agreed out of necessity. After a while, this acquaintance's flatmate called the girl to offer her to work as a prostitute through a man who managed online chat rooms where these services were offered.

The man asked for her identity card and demanded she send him naked photographs, for which he paid her through his mobile phone. Afterwards, he summoned her to a hotel with the supposed aim of taking some sexual photographs of her. She agreed, but once in the room she realised that this was not his real goal, and the man sexually assaulted her.

The arrested man tried to protect himself by impersonating the identity of one of the girls he had under his control and contracted credit cards, telephone lines and bank accounts in her name. he thus succeeded in hiding his identity. In addition, he also extorted money from clients who called the girls he controlled, demanding money from them under the threat of telling to their contacts that they consorted with prostitutes if they did not pay. The police have also discovered that he asked for loans with the girls' identities, first for small amounts and later for larger ones.

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