Spain: A prostitution network that used minors, dismantled

The Spanish national Police has broken up a prostitution network that captured young people between 12 and 17 years old, in schools and discos in Murcia, Spain, and through Internet, to use them for prostitution in whorehouses and in clients private houses.

The organization had a book with more than 400 pictures of women, minors included, that they offered to their clients, so that they could choose which one they wanted.

Among the 29 people arrested, there are the three leaders of the organization, and many of the clients who deliberately asked for the minors services.

The operation started last August in Southern Spain, when a seventeen years old Ecuadorian girl disappeared. Her parents explained that, even though her daughter did not have a job, as far as they knew, she had a high standard of living.

After a lot of investigations, the girl was found last October in an apartment in the region of Murcia, where other girls and the couple who owned the apartment lived. It was demonstrated that the girl and other young women (some of them minors too), were being sexually exploited by the owners.

Through the victims testimonies and other discoveries made by the police, it was confirmed that the apartment was just a part of a very well equipped network that captures and sexually exploits minors. The girls were captured at discos, through job advertisements, or even at school. The clients were contacted by social media and instant messaging.

The investigators found 12 underage girls who have suffered sexual slavery.

NO PRISON FOR CLIENTS

According to the local newspaper “La opinion de Murcia”, 15 of the 29 people arrested, were clients who specifically asked for minors, and the other 14 were part of the network who captured and exploited the girls.

Among those, five of them were the leaders: 3 women and her husbands. They went to prison when they were detained, but they are on probation now, waiting for the oral proceedings.

None of the clients, among whom there were businessmen, lawyers, a retired civil guard, and even some people above 80, went to prison.