Trip
Officials from the Junior Women’s Team of the Alicante and Vizcaya Civil Guards disrupted a human trafficking network operating in the Basque Country. The operation, designated Alipar, unfolded after a protected witness in Alicante provided crucial information. In the course of the action, the Civil Guard Central Operations Unit, which handles human trafficking matters, arrested seven individuals in the cities of Bilbao, Barakaldo, and Fruiz in Biscay. Thirteen women were identified as victims who had been forced into prostitution and subjected to brutal, inhumane living conditions in a residence in the Bilbao district of Zorrotza. The network had been active since at least early 2017, a period when coordinators began to take control of vulnerable women to exploit them sexually. [Citation: Civil Guard operation details]
According to Civil Guard information, the criminal organization recruited women from South American countries. The victims were chosen because of their vulnerability, need, and poverty back home, especially in Paraguay and Colombia. The recruits were offered promises of better living and working conditions, only to be confined to deplorable and unsanitary surroundings. [Citation: Civil Guard statements]
According to statements gathered by Europa Press from Hector Suarez, who heads the investigation department of the Vizcaya Command Judicial Police Organic Unit, the survivors had been packed into cramped spaces on a ground floor and in a basement, with access to a small attic that required bending to enter. Beds in bunk beds measured barely 70 cm, and the victims lived among food remnants and filth, sharing a single living area, a bathroom, and the burden of being forced to use cocaine if clients demanded it. [Citation: Europa Press interview summaries]
Trip
The victims were moved through several European countries before finally arriving in Bilbao. There, they learned of their real employment situation and were coerced into prostitution. Women faced daily control that limited their ability to leave the premises to just one hour per day, and even then only under surveillance via closed-circuit television operated by members of the criminal organization. [Citation: Civil Guard chronology]
Victims were compelled to serve customers around the clock, seven days a week. The organization also organized themed events where victims had to comply with customer requests. In response to the abuse, non-governmental organizations such as Fiet Gratia offered support to meet a range of needs for those released from captivity or rescued from exploitation. [Citation: NGO notes]
The leadership of the network was women who directed daily operations, with five women and one man performing various roles within the organization. Investigators noted large cash sums, cocaine, cannabis, numerous mobile devices, computers, point-of-sale devices, monitors, CCTV equipment, and pills including sildenafil and amoxicillin; the seizure also included documents valuable for the case. Authorities also moved to block several bank accounts, real estate holdings, and vehicles linked to the network. [Citation: Police filing]
A criminal complaint was filed against the detainees for human trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation, with charges including public health violations, money laundering, membership in a criminal organization, and rights violations of foreign nationals. The investigation was led by the Education Court No. 6 of Bilbao. [Citation: Court filing]