The Nigerian woman, a permanent resident in Majorca, was the head of the gang which included two siblings, one of them in Vitoria (Basque Country) and the other in Germany.
The police investigation has revealed a similar set of circumstances to other cases when trafficking gangs have been targeted. A principal difference in this particular case involves the route that the women took from Nigeria - via Libya and Italy before moving on to Palma. The journey by boat from Libya was a hazardous one, and once in Italy the gang arranged air tickets to travel to Majorca from different Italian airports.
Falsely promised proper employment in Europe, the women were subjected to voodoo rituals in order to retain their loyalty and, when they arrived in Majorca, informed that they were in debt to the gang to the tune of 30,000 euros. In order to repay this, they were forced into working as prostitutes and were living in cramped conditions under tight control.
The police operation also involved searches related to voodoo practices and the finding of handwritten notes with the names of sex clubs, the women's documents and 1,400 euros in cash that had come from prostitution.
The National Police launched a plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation in 2013. This has so far resulted in 478 investigations.
5 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Of course, quite a few people who lived here before 1975 would probably say "Paco, vuelve" would be as good and effective solution as any other.
Anyone who has driven into Palma on the Calvia motorway at dawn will have seen large expensive cars being driven by large coloured men filled with women of the same race going the same way. Which basically means that to drive out they would have had to drive in. Is it so difficult to stop them doing this, or like the looky looky men, the so called authorities's only solution is to ask tourists to be careful ?
Given that most people who live or holiday in the affected areas can clearly see what is going on then the lack of action in the past from the police cannot be defended. At last there is some action, and that needs to be stepped-up, and as has been observed below, the women concerned need help while the people operating the trafficking activities need rounding up and dealt with. A few high profile arrests and some lengthy jail terms for the guilty would send out a powerful message.
The women forced to work as prostitutes are the innocent victims of human trafficking,like so many others,they only sought a better life,the real criminals here are the traffickers who get rich on human misery and any jail sentences should match their appalling crimes and send out a message to others.
Wouldnt it be simpler to let no Nigerians in Mallorca at all? Its constant negative headlines about them and to be fair, there aren't that many, so the crime rates/Nigerian must be amongst the highest of any nationality in Mallorca (along with eastern europeans). In the UK Nigerians are responsible for the most financial scams which actually led David Cameron in May to make the unprecidented statement that Nigeria is fantastically corrupt. Of course it is, no more over here please. This is not racist, we dont want anyone over here whatever race or colour who dont play by the rules!