The National Police arrested three men accused of belonging to a human trafficking network for sexual exploitation, a hostess club in Miguelturra, a town bordering Ciudad Real.
Among the three detainees, who also face charges of belonging to a criminal organization and crimes against workers’ rights, there is a man who He is also accused of sexual assault and gender-based violence. for allegedly maintaining sexual relations with one of the club’s employees against her will.
Investigations began following the victim’s complaint who said she was forced into prostitution at a well-known hostess club in Miguelturra.
The premises were sealed off by the Police.
The first police investigations made it possible to determine that the management of the premises was the responsibility of several individuals who operated within an organized criminal structurewho used deception, intimidation and threats to control sex workers from whom they sometimes withheld up to half of the amount collected for each service, underline National Police sources.
According to research, The victim went to Ciudad Real deceived meeting one of the inmates, who convinced her that they both had a virtual romantic relationship and that she could work as a waitress in a hotel establishment in Miguelturra.
The victim contacted another friend to accompany him to work in Ciudad Real, where they were picked up by the now detained man and the club owner, who eventually They imposed their conditions on them to end up practicing prostitution; to the point that “one of the men frequently came to the premises to demand periodic payments from the worker and force her to have sexual relations”, explain the investigators.
Women in an irregular situation
In this way, the National Police obtained the order to enter and search the establishment, where there were also They identified 13 other sex workers, most of them illegal, who practiced prostitution “in painful and abusive conditions, having to return part of the money collected to the person in charge of the establishment”.
Investigators seized numerous documents, photocopies of foreign women’s passports, simulated airsoft gas guns and nearly 2,500 euros in cash.
Fines for not working
The management of the hostess club and its employees provided a system of fines for girls who prostituted themselves there, so that when one of them did not agree, for various reasons, to provide sexual service to the client, even because she was sick or had her period, she was forced to sanctions of 50 to 100 euros, which generated a debt on the part of the workers which they would have to repay later with new sexual services.
“These types of practices are common in criminal organizations dedicated to human trafficking, since a link is created between the exploited women and the organization in the form of economic debt, which only seeks to delay as much as possible, or even to delay the departure of the victims indefinitely, and this sometimes even involves the withholding of the passport or the extortion or blackmail of relatives in the country of origin,” assures the National Police.
