ISSUE NO. 1643
29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017
COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
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THE BEST OF THE YEAR 2016 SEE PAGES 10 - 31
Voodoo horror Women forced to eat chicken hearts
VOODOO RITUALS: Were carried out by a criminal gang. By Matthew Elliott COSTA BLANCA police have released nine women who were forced to become prostitutes and take part in Voodoo rituals by a criminal gang. National agents also arrested 20 members of a Nigerian pimping and traffic k in g rin g o p era ting throughout the province. The women were taken to the Costa Blanca under the false promise of decent work but found themselves trapped and forced to take part in horrific Voodoo rituals. They were held hostage by gangmasters, who sold their bodies at clubs around Alicante and Murcia. In one example, detectives found the women had been compelled to eat raw hearts torn from live chickens. Many were stripped of all
the ir doc ume nta tion a nd told they were indebted to the traffickers to the tune of â‚Ź30,000 for arranging transport from Africa to Spain. That money was to be paid back through prostitution. The c onditions of their isolation amounted to psychological domination, detectives said. The police operation began earlier this year when Local Police got wind of the c rimina ls is s uing de a th threats to several women who had tried to escape.
Officers from the Costa Blanca were soon embroiled in an international affair, dealing with Nigerian gangsters, Libyan smugglers and the Italian mafia. What will happen to the rescued women now rema ins unc le a r. N one of them speak Spanish, have identification, money, or somewhere safe to go. They live in fe a r of be ing re turned to Nigeria or other African countries where they face being punished by the gangs if discovered.
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