Madrid, April 19, (dpa/GNA) – Spanish police have freed 15 women and men from the grip of a gang that allegedly forced its victims into prostitution.
A total of 14 suspected members of the gang, including its leader, were arrested in a major operation in the autonomous community of Murcia on the Mediterranean coast in the south-east of the country, police wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Most of the victims were from Colombia, the police said. Among them were four sisters of the gang’s leader. He had promised them, like the other victims, an escape from the economic hardship in Colombia and a lucrative job in Spain.
When they got there, however, they were forced into prostitution ostensibly to pay for the flight from South America.
The victims were found in flats and houses in the towns of Molina de Segura and Cabezo de Torres, north of the regional capital Murcia, the radio station Onda Cero reported. Police video showed officers also seizing cash and small amounts of drugs. The victims were taken to a minibus and the suspected perpetrators were led away in handcuffs.
GNA