National Police agents have released three minors forced to consume drugs to prostitute themselves in adult clubs in Lanzarote. Eight people have been arrested in Arrecife who formed a criminal group dedicated to the sexual exploitation of minors, three of them being imprisoned. The victims were recruited in minor centers on the island and locked up in apartments where they lived in isolation, being transferred to clubs where they had sexual relations with any client indicated to them in days that lasted all night.
The investigation began when agents became aware of the repeated absences of minors in official centers where they were under guardianship in Arrecife. After several steps, it was possible to prove that these abandonments were related to the recruitment of minors in these centers to be sexually exploited.
The investigators confirmed the iron control to which the victims were subjected. After being captured, they were isolated in apartments that they only left to go shopping for clothes or intimate items, always accompanied by members of the criminal network, and where they were picked up and transferred to clubs in the area to be sexually exploited.
Once in the premises, and throughout the night, they were forced to consume narcotic substances to inhibit their will and force them to have sexual relations with any client decided by those in charge of controlling the prostitution business.
Benefits of 70 percent per service for the network, rent quotas and money laundering
The network obtained seventy percent of the profits from the exploitation of the minors and, in addition, charged them rent for the house where they were held. All the money obtained was laundered through POS associated with other businesses, which were exploited by the leader of the organization through a network of companies and front men. All members of the organization had bank accounts with large amounts of money.
To materialize the dismantling of this network, the agents established the corresponding operational device that culminated in the simultaneous registration of six properties in Arrecife. As a result, the eight members of the criminal network were arrested and the three minors were released. In addition, 48,000 euros, 200 grams of cocaine and other narcotic substances such as MDA, pollen, or marijuana, a simulated pistol and documentation with annotations of money, names of girls, sexual services, mobile phones and a vehicle were seized.
More than 8,000 communications to 900 10 50 90 and [email protected]
This operation is part of the National Police Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings for Sexual Exploitation, launched in 2013, and which led to the creation of the Central Brigade against Trafficking in Human Beings, attached to the General Commissariat of Immigration and Borders of the National Police. With the launch of this plan, the National Police activated the telephone line 900 10 50 90 and the email [email protected], in which more than 8,000 communications have been received since its inception, both facilitating citizen collaboration and the anonymous and confidential denunciation of this type of crime.
