State Police: three Nigerians arrested for human trafficking offenses and prostitution exploitation

The Brescia State Police, in the context of investigations coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Brescia Public Prosecutor's Office, arrested three Nigerian citizens held responsible for the crimes of trafficking in human beings in execution of a detention order in prison. human and prostitution exploitation.

Donation campaignThe investigative activity carried out by the Brescia-based mobile team through telephone interceptions made it possible to identify in the province of Brescia the terminals (a man and a woman) of an organization based in Libya and Nigeria dedicated to favoring the entry of young women to start the prostitution. The third arrest concerns, instead, a woman, who worked in the city of Turin and is currently domiciled in Mantua.

Through the collaboration of the Central Operational Service and the cooperation channels with the Nigerian police, one of the members of the association operating abroad was completely identified, with the task of transferring the victims of trafficking from Nigeria to Libya, where they were embarked for bring them to the Italian coasts. The investigative activity has confirmed the typical characteristics of Nigerian organizations dedicated to the trafficking of human beings aimed at sexual exploitation and in particular the use of magic rites (juju) and threats against family members at home, instruments aimed at coercing the will of the victims, forced to pay their torturers variable amounts between the 20 and the 30 thousand euro, as a ransom to free themselves from the madame.

Precisely in order to guarantee the woman an income for an appreciable period of time, the girls, before being sent to prostitution, entered the reception system and formalized the request for international protection. This trick made them deportable until the end of the procedure for the recognition of refugee status, which has a very long duration. Once the asylum request was formalized, the victims were induced to escape from the reception center and forced into prostitution, starting to pay the heavy debt.

During the investigation, in which 6 subjects, all Nigerians, were investigated, the dramatic report of three victims was collected, who after having decided to free themselves from their exploiters, recounted all the phases of their recruitment and the harassment they have had to suffer during the trip, consisting of physical violence, sexual abuse and forced restrictions at Libyan detention centers.

Further details will be provided during the press conference to be held at the Brescia Police Headquarters at 10.

State Police: three Nigerians arrested for human trafficking offenses and prostitution exploitation