A transatlantic pimping network, which exploited at least fifty women in France and allegedly pocketed up to 30 million euros a year, was dismantled on Tuesday in France but also in Spain and Colombia, a-t- we learned Friday from a French police source.
A couple, at the head of the network, was imprisoned in Colombia, four men and two women were arrested in Spain and will soon be handed over to France, and two men and two women must be presented to French justice on Friday, a- we said from the same source, confirming information from Parisian and France Inter.
The investigation, entrusted since September 2021 to the National Jurisdiction in charge of the fight against organized crime (Junalco), was opened for pimping, aggravated human trafficking, money laundering in an organized gang and association of criminals, indicated to the AFP a judicial source.
Victims between the ages of 20 and 40 were “mainly Colombians and Venezuelans, but also from Peru and Paraguay”explains to AFP Commissioner Elvire Arrighi, head of the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings (Ocrteh), who piloted the file.
“They were exploited in an absolutely industrial way throughout France”, up to a dozen passes a day, she added.
The network was managed from Colombia by a couple made up of a Venezuelan and a Colombian who promised the recruited victims a better future in Europe and reaped the rewards.
Of them “call centers” in Spain, Malaga and Madrid, and another in France, were responsible for connecting French clients and victims.
these “had no control over their schedule and had to report by message after each performance”underlines Ms. Arrighi.
At the end of the chain, “little hands” took care of the logistics (meals, transport, security, etc.) “closer to the victims”so that they “dedicated entirely to passing”, adds the commissioner.
In total, the network would have pocketed at least five million euros per year, but it is “a low fork” according to the head of the Ocrteh whose investigators believe that she can reach “20 to 30 million euros”.
The Commissioner emphasizes “unprecedented international cooperation” between France, Colombia and Spain, which shows that “Faced with organized crime without borders, police forces can join forces, including across the oceans”.