Monday, November 11, 2013
At least 25 people have been apprehended by police operatives in Spain as part of a crackdown on a s*x trafficking ring which lured women from Nigeria to the European country with promises of a better life.
The Spanish police were reported to have said that the Nigerian women, who fell victim to the ruse and were forced into prostitution on their arrival, would make their first stop in Mexico or Brazil using falsified travel documents.
The women would then allegedly be flown to the French capital, Paris, before they made their final stop in Spain, the land where they would be held captive.
According to reports, five women who were victims of the s*x ring were freed in the raids. Police found one member of the gang performing an abortion on one of the five women.
Arrests were made across Spain – in Madrid, Toledo, Cantabria and Palma de Mallorca.
More than 100 vans concealing luxury goods were also seized.
The gang used the vans to launder their profits and send them back to Lagos, police say.
The vans, with dark-tinted windows and welded doors, were stocked full of beer but had luxury items hidden deeper inside.
Goods worth an estimated 5m euros (£4.1m; $6.6m) were found in 94 vans seized in Madrid and another 26 in the port of Valencia, including high-end televisions and cases of alcohol.
Police say the gang was formed more than 20 years ago in Nigerian universities and was also known for sending so-called Nigerian letters by email, asking recipients to send money.
