Agents of the National Police have dismantled a criminal group that was dedicated to the sexual exploitation of women who were captured through a well-known Internet social network. The victims, mainly from Peru and Venezuela, travelled to Spain deceived with false job offers to care for the elderly. When they arrived in Spain, their passport was taken from them and they were transferred to a hostess club where they were forced into prostitution. One of the victims, who refused to engage in prostitution, was locked up in a room for five days, being fed bread, cheese and water, and later being sexually forced.
To fight against Human Trafficking through new technologies, the National Police has created a specific group of Cibertrata to allow greater international cooperation and connect national and international investigations.
Recruitment of women through social networks
The investigation began when the agents verified the existence of a criminal group allegedly dedicated to trafficking in human beings. The method they used to attract women consisted of contacting, through a well-known social network, with women of South American origin, mainly from Peru and Venezuela, who were in a clear situation of vulnerability (work, economic, family, etc. .) in their countries of origin. They earned their trust by maintaining constant contact with them and with small money transactions that they sent them as help, to end up offering them a job as caregivers for the elderly in Spain. The criminal network also offered to cover the expenses of the trip and advised the victims to travel to Spain with a tourist visa.
The victims captured by the criminal group landed at the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport, where their passport was immediately withdrawn, as well as the cards and cash they were traveling with, being transferred to a hostess club in the that they were forced to engage in prostitution and thus pay the debt incurred.
Locked up, drugged and assaulted
One of the victims, aware of the deception, refused to be a prostitute. In retaliation, she was locked in the room of an establishment in the province of Toledo where she remained for five days, fed with bread and cheese and sleeping on a mattress, while she was drugged and assaulted to change her attitude. Later, she was transferred to a home in Ávila province where she was again beaten and sexually assaulted until she agreed to provide sexual services to several clients.
The police operation has ended with the arrest of three people of Spanish nationality, one of whom has entered prison. Two searches have been carried out in the provinces of Toledo and Ávila, in which 5,100 euro in cash, various electronic devices and documentation related to the investigation have been intervened.
Fight against cybertrata in the National Police
Modern communication technologies -Internet, social networks and mobile applications- have had a significant impact on the way in which organised crime groups involved in the international trafficking of human beings operate, mainly for their subsequent sexual and labour exploitation. Human traffickers are using increasingly modern communication technologies to exploit their victims, from advertising and recruiting victims to blackmailing them with photos and videos to monitor their movements.
In response to this threat, the National Police has recently created a specific group of Cibertrata -integrated within the General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders-, which will allow greater international cooperation and an increase in the collection of digital evidence to connect the dots between national and international investigations.
With trafficking there is no deal
This operation is part of the National Police Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation. The National Police has a telephone line 900 10 50 90 and an e-mail address info@policia.es to facilitate citizen collaboration and the anonymous and confidential reporting of this type of crime, the call not being reflected on the telephone bill.
