Six victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation released

The Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the National Police within the framework of the Joya-Aguyje operation, has dismantled a criminal organisation dedicated to human trafficking for sexual exploitation and has released six victims who were under the control of the criminal structure.

In total, ten people have been arrested for the alleged crimes of trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexual exploitation, against the rights of foreign citizens, related to prostitution, against public health, against moral integrity and being part of a criminal organisation.

The criminal organisation recruited victims in South American countries, mainly Paraguay, through deception, benefiting from their vulnerable situation and offering them promising living and working conditions. Other women were already captured in Spain using the same modus operandi.

The criminal network covered all the expenses and procedures necessary for the victims captured in foreign countries and in Spain to end up in the two brothel apartments available to the organisation, one in the town of Manresa, and the other in Mollet del Vallés.

Once they were under the physical control of the members of the criminal network, they took their mobile phones and passports and later informed them that they had contracted a financial debt with the organisation that must be satisfied with the execution of sexual services.

To do this, they had to be available 24 hours a day without rest, even if they were unwell, to have unprotected sexual relations, to suffer physical violence if the client required it and even to be recorded. The victims did not have freedom of movement, and the criminal network maintained tight control over them.

The women were confined to the two floors-brothels where they were overcrowded, without privacy and in inhumane and unhealthy conditions. Additionally, on one of the floors they were monitored with video surveillance cameras. In both properties, narcotic substances were trafficked, forcing the victims to encourage clients to buy cocaine and to consume it themselves forcefully if the service demanded it.

The criminal organisation maintained a solid hierarchy with a perfectly defined distribution of roles in relation to recruitment, transfer and final exploitation. The address was shared between a man and a woman. The rest of the levels of the organisation obeyed the instructions of the management, placing special emphasis on one of the members in charge of recruiting the victims, who took advantage of his knowledge as a travel agent to inadvertently introduce them into national territory.

During the entries and searches carried out in the towns of Gavá, Manresa and Mollet del Vallés, more than 13,000 euro in cash, 18 mobile phones, a computer, 300 grams of cocaine, a hydraulic press used in the production of numerous narcotic substances were seized, and documentation related to the exploitation of victims. 11 banking products, three vehicles and one property have been blocked.

At the time of their release, the apartments used as brothels where they were exploited were closed, to later be assisted in full coordination and collaboration by the NGO “FUNDACIÓ APIC-ACAM”, to meet the different needs that each of them could require.

The investigation has been directed by the Investigative Court No. 3 of Manresa and carried out by the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Guardia Civil of Bizkaia and the Central Unit of Immigration Networks and Documentary Falsities of the National Police of Barcelona.

Guardia Civil and National Police against Human Trafficking

This operation is part of the actions of the National Police and the Guardia Civil against Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation. Both bodies have channels to facilitate citizen collaboration and anonymous and confidential reporting of this type of crime. In addition to the telephone number 900 10 50 90, the National Police has the email address trafficking@policia.es and the Guardia Civil has the email address trafficking@guardiacivil.es

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