typicallyspanish.com

Spain News : National
+ Larger Font | + Smaller Font
Spanish police break up network which used Russian women for prostitution in Spain
By h.b. - Apr 8, 2008 - 1:43 PM
ALSO SEE : • Sentencing confirmed for Romanian prostitution network based in Vera - Mar 23, 2008 - 5:56 PM

Photo inside one of the clubs - Ministry of the Interior/ETA
enlarge photo

A total of 400 Russian women have now been arrested for being in Spain illegally
Spanish National Police have broken up what they describe as the largest network to traffic in Russian woman, exploiting them as prostitutes.

More than 70 police took part in what was the third part of an operation, codenamed Zarpa, which started in November last year and which now sees a total of 76 people accused in the provinces of Almería, Granada, Lleida and Girona. 60 of the women were arrested in different roadside clubs, Carambola, Canela, Manhattan and H2, all in El Ejido and Roquetas de Mar in Almería.

The Ministry for the Interior says that a total of 400 women have now been arrested for being in Spain illegally as part of the operation, all of them victims of sexual exploitation. All the women were placed in flats in Spain which were tightly controlled and supervised. In one three bed room flat police found as many as 13 beds.

Police say that the gang sent more than two million euro back to Russia since 2006. Investigations have shown that the gang was controlled by married couples of Spaniards and Russians, and that the movement of money obtained was never in amounts larger than 3,000 € at a time, so as not to attract attention from those looking for the money laundering taking place. A whole network of middlemen and companies were used to move the capital, and several properties are thought to have been purchased with the proceeds. Firearms, luxury vehicles and cash were also seized in the operation which continues open.


 smartphone/pda/iphone |  email this article |  printer friendly page

 del.icio.us |  digg |  technorati |  yahoo | Stumble It!
Facebook | Reddit | Newsvine | Meneame | Wikio | Blink

ALSO SEE :
• Sentencing confirmed for Romanian prostitution network based in Vera - Mar 23, 2008 - 5:56 PM
• Spanish magazine publishes photos of Kristen, the Spitzer prostitute - Mar 18, 2008 - 12:46 PM
• Cartagena businessman arrested for running brothel in his home - Feb 24, 2008 - 7:02 PM
• Three Almería nightclubs closed in prostitution investigation - Jan 24, 2008 - 7:56 PM
• Brothel owner arrested in Motril - Oct 16, 2007 - 5:43 PM
• Five remand prisoners start hunger strike in El Acebuche prison - Oct 4, 2007 - 6:36 PM
• Woman arrested for offering her two year old daughter for sex - Aug 22, 2007 - 8:56 PM
• Missing Romanian woman freed from enforced prostitution - Jul 15, 2007 - 5:50 PM
• 88 arrests in Almería as a network in enforced prostitution is broken up in Spain - Jun 27, 2007 - 10:18 PM
• Nine remanded to custody after swoop on prostitution network - Apr 22, 2007 - 5:21 PM