Spanish Police have busted a network of Nigerian voodoo sex traffickers operating in Spain who use illegal migration routes to smuggle young girls into Europe.

The Southern Sun reported that the sex slaves are being groomed in Benin City, Edo state by mafia-style gangs promising them a better life in Spain.

Police said it was headed by three Nigerian women who target young women living in virtual poverty.

They were submitted to voodoo rituals threatening terrible consequences to them and their families if they disobeyed the organisation, police said.

Parts of their bodies were smothered in animal blood before they were threatened with death or infertility if they failed to obey the traffickers.

The women are being smuggled into Spain via Niger and Libya – before being told they owed up to 40,000 euros to their traffickers.

They are then being ferried to Italy in rickety boats along with scores of other desperate migrants.

Once in Italy, the syndicate flies them to Spain, using ID belonging to other women of Nigerian origin living legally in the country.

Following one bust, police said:

“They had to go and prostitute themselves every day and couldn’t come back until the early hours of the morning, after more than 14 hours… regardless of the inclement weather or their own health.”

Such is the fear of their bosses that one of the victims who fell pregnant aborted straight away and continued to prostitute herself so that they would never know.

Although the police have been working around-the-clock to combat the traffickers, those that work and live in Benidorm a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Spain, say the problem has not gone away.

One bar manager told the Sun Online:

“The police are trying their best, but they seem to be fighting a losing battle.

“You see one girl get taken away by the police and then it seems like two new ones return the very next night.

“There do seem to be quite a few Nigerian sex workers at the moment. I have heard about the voodoo stuff but I always thought it was a bit of a joke.

“It’s not the fact they are working as prostitutes that bothers most British tourists, it’s because they are forever trying to steal people’s wallets and handbags.

“After midnight they can be seen near all the busy pubs and clubs..and that’s when the problems start.”

SICAR Cat, a religious organisation which provides help to the victims of sex trafficking, revealed it is increasingly aware of the problem.

It told the Sun Online:

“It is not unusual for Nigerian mafias to use voodoo, it is part of their way of coercing their victims.”

 

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