Three arrested on ‘slavery’ charges

4 June 2004

MADRID – Spain’s Civil Guard arrested three Colombians in Madrid suspected of involvement in a slavery-prostitution ring, it was reported Friday.

Five women between the ages of 20 and 25 were rescued from the establishments where they were forced to work as prostitutes by the gang, which lured Colombian women to Spain by promising them jobs.

The Civil Guard discovered two houses in Madrid where they suspected the women were being held against their will and forced to work as prostitutes.

Officers arrested three suspects – two women aged 37 and 39 and a 39-year-old man.

The gang’s modus operandi was to find women who were seeking a better life outside of Colombia and offer them steady jobs in Spain, either doing housework, babysitting or working in hotels.

When the young women accepted the offer, they contracted a debt of EUR 12,000 (USD 14,600), which they were to pay off once they got to Spain.

The organisation would then obtain documentation for them and provide them with money and plane tickets to Portugal.

When they landed in Portugal, they were met by a vehicle that transported them to Madrid and took them to one of the gang’s houses.

Then their documents and the money were taken away, and they were forced to work as prostitutes in different Madrid clubs under threat of reprisals against their relatives in Colombia.

Charges against the Colombians include enslavement and illegal detention.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news