Trans sex workers freed from criminal network in Spain
La Casa-Museo Gaudi, designed by architect Francesc Berenguer, is lit by the evening sun while backdropped by the city of Barcelona in Parque Guell on April 16, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. La Casa-Museo Gaudi is the house where Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi lived from 1906 until a couple of months before his death in 1926. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
A criminal ring exploiting Venezuelan transgender sex workers has been dismantled by police.
Reuters reports that the group was hosting fake “Miss Trans” competitions in Venezuela.
The ‘competitions’ had promised that winners would be given a new life in Spain, according to the report.
Authorities in Spain on Monday said more than 20 victims had been freed.
They said that the trans victims had been made to live in “inhumane conditions” in apartments in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
Debts accrued through the scam had to be paid off through drug dealing and sex work, said police.
The criminal ring offered to pay the travel of the trans people and their accommodation.
Alongside the expenses, victims said they offered to pay for breast implants, said the police statement.
The leader of the conspiracy also said that victims would be promised “great prosperity”.
But the criminal network had taken travel documents from each victim as they arrived in Spain.
And they imposed debts of 15,000 Euros for the return of their passports.
According to police, the victims were made available to clients 24 hours a day.
14 people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the network which had brought in more than a million Euros over a five-year period.
Earlier this year in the US, two men were found guilty of running a gay sex slave ring in the US.
The men, Hungarian nationals, Gabor Acs and Viktor Berki, were convicted by a Miami-Dade jury.
They were convicted of human trafficking, conspiracy and racketeering.
