Spanish police free 15 Chinese women forced into prostitution
Fourteen people were arrested, including Chinese nationals, after a woman escaped her captors and reported sexual and physical assaults
Spanish police on Saturday said they had freed 15 Chinese women forced into prostitution in “conditions of slavery” in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands, and arrested 14 people.
The network profited not only from sexual exploitation but also from selling stimulants and drugs to clients.
“The victims were kept in conditions of slavery; they had to be available at all times,” the national police said.
Some of the women were already on the Spanish mainland or “had travelled from China to Spain after accepting purported job offers as therapeutic massage therapists, with a salary of around 2,000 euros a month, or as cooks or caregivers”, the statement said.
The operation ended with 14 arrests: 12 in the Balearic Islands and two in Barcelona.
Seven of those arrested were remanded in custody. All the detainees are Chinese nationals except one, a Spaniard.