A Valencian Civil Guard operation dismantled a criminal group that recruited minors by providing them with shelter and psychotropic substances inside a house they occupied. The aim was to facilitate sexual activity later on, using the same location as a base for coercion and abuse.
The operation, which began at the end of June last year, followed multiple complaints about two missing young people from La Safor. Investigators learned that the youths had stayed for a week in a house where detainees lived, during which they were drugged and made to have sexual relations with several men.
One minor played a pivotal role by cooperating with authorities. He contacted one of the alleged assailants, triggering a police response. After the raid, the Valencian Civil Guard located the girls, who were treated for possible injuries at Gandia Hospital and then placed under the care of those responsible for their custody. The aim was to remove the minors from the environment that harmed them and prevent further abuse linked to the perpetrators’ activities.
Authorities acted swiftly to safeguard the minors, given the lack of a secure foothold by those committing the crimes and the need to protect the victims. The investigation revealed that the network offered shelter to vulnerable youths, kept them in La Safor, and supplied psychotropic substances to enable sexual exploitation by the group members and other men of similar backgrounds who visited the house.
As a result of the police work, two men, aged 50 and 37, were arrested by late October. A third man, 20, remained at large, and a 43-year-old man held in Picassen Prison faced ongoing investigations for the same offenses. The crimes attributed to them include the sexual abuse of minors, among other charges.
The case file was submitted to the Gandía District Court, under Order No. 3, with formal proceedings continuing as investigators pursue the remaining suspect and assess all related evidence. [Source: Valencia Civil Guard statements and local court records]