27 Latin American women forced into prostitution in Spain are released

The Spanish National Police dismantled an organization allegedly dedicated to human trafficking for sexual exploitation and freed 27 women, including minors, who were prostituted in four brothels in the south of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. There are fourteen people detained, including the leaders of the alleged criminal network, who made periodic trips to various South American countries to recruit young women in situations of extreme vulnerability from impoverished backgrounds through deception. This was detailed this Thursday by the Spanish National Police in a statement, in which it clarified that the police investigation began in July 2024 following the receipt of an email at the Victim Assistance Service for Human Trafficking of the National Police.

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This communication alerted to the presence of a couple in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife who, allegedly, ran four brothels and who would have several women under their control. The National Police reminds that it has the telephone line 900105090 and the email trata@policia.es to facilitate citizen collaboration and the anonymous and confidential reporting of this type of crime, the call not being reflected on the telephone bill False job promises
The Spanish Police explained that the victims were recruited in South American countries through deception, false job promises and expectations of a better life, with the sole aim of sexually exploiting them upon their arrival in Spain. Thus, women agreed to go to Spain to work as ‘striptease’ dancers, but upon joining the clubs they found that the reality was very different, since in these places they were forced to engage in prostitution for long hours and forced to consume drugs. In addition to incurring a debt with the organization that could reach 3,000 euros and which they had to pay off by forcing them into prostitution, the victims were housed in properties with other women and lived in very precarious conditions and subjected to strict control rules. During the investigation, the agents were able to verify the sexual exploitation of minors within the establishments controlled by the network, and they located a 16-year-old adolescent inside one of the clubs who was carrying a falsified document. The investigators were also able to corroborate that the organization defrauded more than 70,000 euros from men who went to brothels through credit card scams.