The Civil Guard within the framework of the 'Operation Chacao', has freed five women, two of them, from a flat in Dénia, of South American nationality, who were being sexually exploited. In addition, in the Dianense town, they have also carried out the arrest of two members (a man and a woman) of this criminal organization.
In the operation, ten people, five men and five women (four of Dominican nationality, three Venezuelans, two Spanish and one Colombian) were arrested in the provinces of A Coruña, Toledo and Alicante, members of the criminal organization, who were carrying out tasks specific procedures for recruiting, transferring and controlling victims. They are charged with the crimes of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation, money laundering, belonging to a criminal organization and crime against public health.
Likewise, five domiciliary searches have been carried out in homes related to the criminal structure, intervening a large amount of documentation and effects of interest. Among the intervened effects is a significant amount of narcotic substances, already prepared for delivery and consumption to both the victims and the alleged clients.
Numerous receipts of money transfers to third countries were also found, showing, on the one hand, the enormous economic amount that the criminal organization earned through the victims, and on the other, the modus operandi they used to launder these profits.
The investigation began at the end of 2019 on a criminal organization dedicated to the recruitment of women in South American countries, to a greater extent Venezuela and Colombia, using for this the formula of deception and abuse of the situation of need and vulnerability in which they are they were in their countries of origin.
In order to evade border controls, the victims traveled long routes in different means of transport (planes, buses, etc.), through third countries, until they reached their final destination in Spain where
they were sexually exploited.
Exploited in different Spanish provinces
Although there are other links at the national or international level, the organization operated in the provinces of A Coruña, Alicante, Toledo and Álava. After their arrival in Spain, the victims had their documentation withdrawn
and they were locked in locked rooms, systematically forcing them to consume narcotic substances to create greater dependence on traffickers and increase their supposed debt.
In order to carry out the exploitation of the victims, the traffickers published advertisements on different internet pages, more than 3.000, using telephone numbers that forced the victims themselves to buy. The publication of part of these announcements was made from the Dominican Republic.
The total number of victims detected and controlled by the organization amounts to more than 30 women of different nationalities in South America, all of them in a clear situation of need and vulnerability.
The investigation has been carried out by agents of the Civil Guard belonging to the Human Trafficking Section of the Central Operational Unit (UCO), specialized in this type of crime, as well as in the treatment and contact with the victims of this criminal typology, and of the Alicante Organized Crime Team (ECO), having been of great importance the contribution, fostered by the usual channels of collaboration, of the different police forces of the countries of origin of the victims.
In the exploitation phase of the operation, the investigators have had the support of personnel from the Civil Guard Command of A Coruña, Toledo and Alicante, as well as the Civil Guard Judicial Police Technical Unit.
