Alex Trelinski
POLICE have arrested 48 people for being involved in a sex exploitation gang that lured more than 1,000 women from South America to Spain in the last year.
The Policia Nacional carried out seven raids in Alicante province and one in the Murcia region after getting an anonymous phone tip.
The gang was led by two Columbian women and a Murcia-based Spaniard who were said to have enjoyed a luxury lifestyle.
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The victims, who were mainly from Venezuela and Colombia, were made to believe they had secured beauty or cleaning jobs.
48 of them were rescued by police officers.
On arrival in Spain, they were forced into the sex trade – only allowed out for two hours a day during their first week and kept under video surveillance.
They were taken to strip clubs in Alicante, Elche and Orihuela which were disguised as guest houses or hostels so as not to attract the attention of the police.
The gang took a 40% commission from each client and the women were moved between the three venues to attract more customers.
The clubs- which also sold drugs- were shut down as part of the operation, with officers seizing €150,000 and freezing bank accounts totalling €938,000.
17 properties with a total value of €1.3 million have been sealed off.
Six of the suspects were remanded in custody and the rest bailed to appear in court at a later date.
In addition to the three leaders, the gang had two distinct layers- those who ran the clubs and a network of taxi drivers who transported the women to provide ‘home services’.
