VIDEO: Recorded by the National Police within this operation against human trafficking
The National Police has arrested 16 people in Lanzarote, accused of sexually exploiting women in clubs in several European countries. The ringleader "controlled in real time and through webcam" brothels located in the Canary Islands, specifically in Arrecife and Puerto del Carmen, and the Spanish Levante, as well as in various cities in Germany and Switzerland, according to the National Police. Of the 16 arrested, 14 are of Romanian nationality and two are Spanish. A European arrest and surrender warrant has been issued for the ringleader of the plot.
With this operation, this group "dedicated to the sexual exploitation of women" has been dismantled. In addition, seven searches have been carried out, five of them in private homes and two in brothels in Arrecife and Puerto del Carmen, which have been sealed off by court order. Specifically, the Sagitario night club, on Padre Claret street, in Arrecife, and the Manhathan club, on Avenida de las Playas in Puerto del Carmen, have been sealed off.
Numerous current accounts used by the organization have also been blocked. Among the effects seized are 8,000 euros in cash, packets of narcotic substance, an electric pistol and several knives, various documentation, nominal lists of the victims, quadrants with service schedules and receipts for money shipments.
The agents have pointed out that the members of the group "did not hesitate to use violence to break the will of their victims, periodically punishing them to obey their instructions."
The complaint of two Romanian women
The investigations began in October 2012, when the Arrecife Police Station received a complaint filed by two Romanian women who claimed to be victims of a criminal organization that was dedicated to sexually exploiting them on the island of Lanzarote.
The work of the Police allowed to discover the existence of a group "perfectly organized and structured, whose ringleader, in order to avoid being detected by the Police, periodically moved his residence through different cities in Romania, Switzerland and Germany." He also traveled sporadically to the island of Lanzarote, where the members of the plot gave him accounts of the profits obtained, according to the same sources.
The ringleader exercised "absolute control"
According to the National Police, the ringleader of the network exercised "absolute" control over both the girls and all the members of the organization. Daily he was informed of any incident that occurred in the clubs and, in addition, he had installed a sophisticated webcam system through which he observed at all times and in real time what was happening in his businesses.
Some members of the group were in charge of recruiting women in their country of origin, Romania, in Braila or in Moldova, "always taking advantage of the state of need in which they were, since they came from the poorest and most disadvantaged social strata." "Once the victims were selected, they were offered well-paid jobs in Spain, as waitresses or cleaners or they were proposed to work as ladies of company in bars in which they would have to alternate with the clients, being their decision whether or not to have sexual relations with them, in which case, they would keep all the money obtained for those services," the agents inform through a statement.
According to the police investigation, they were then brought to Spain, where they were initially housed in apartments of the organization itself, in the Levante area. "At this time is when the girls had knowledge that in reality they were going to work exercising prostitution in various brothels controlled by the plot, distributed by the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and the entire peninsular Levante," indicate these same sources.
Physical punishments and drugs
The members of the organization explained to the victims the debt they had contracted with the organization for travel, maintenance and accommodation expenses and that they would have to work for them until they paid off that debt completely. "In case any girl refused to obey the orders of the organization, their captors did not hesitate to use any violent method to break their will. Periodically, they punished them by repeatedly hitting them in the lumbar area causing them serious injuries," insists the National Police.
Likewise, the organized group is also accused of being in charge of supplying narcotic substances inside the brothels, in addition to "providing it to exploited victims, in order to create addiction and make them more dependent."
The police investigations allowed to find out that the criminal group not only acted in Spain, but that its ramifications extended to other European countries, such as Switzerland and Germany, in which they controlled other brothels with which they exchanged women, in order to offer novelties to customers continuously.
The police operation has been carried out by the Central Brigade against Trafficking in Human Beings of the General Commissariat of Immigration and Borders and by the Provincial Brigade of Immigration and Borders of Las Palmas, in collaboration with the Operational Response Group, the Local Brigade of Immigration of Arrecife and Citizen Security of Arrecife, as well as the Interior Attachés of Germany, Switzerland and Romania.
