The Montpellier police station (illustration) -

N. Bonzom / Maxele Presse

Thirteen suspects were arrested on Tuesday, eight in Spain, three in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), one in Italy and one in Romania, as part of the dismantling of a large European prostitution network,

20 Minutes

learned

this Thursday from a police source.

It was the police officers of the PJ of Montpellier (Hérault), supported, in particular, by the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings and their Spanish colleagues, who made it possible to dismantle this network, suspected of having reduced young women in prostitution for several years.

About thirty victims have been identified.

A "call center"

In June 2020, two young women, of Colombian origin, presented themselves to the Montpellier police station, indicating that they were kidnapped and prostituted in an apartment, in the station area.

A man, suspected of retaining them as they pleased, had been arrested by the police of the departmental security of Montpellier.

Through their investigations, investigators discovered that it was a much larger network.

They managed to go back to a structure based in Barcelona (Spain), suspected of having welcomed young South Americans to prostitute them in several cities in France.

Eighteen apartments were taken over by the police, notably in Poitiers (Viennes) or Niort (Deux-Sèvres).

This place would also have been used to organize meetings with clients who connect to escort girl sites, like a "call center".

Justice

Haute-Loire: His partner rented rooms to prostitutes, an elected official tried for "complicity in procuring"

Justice

Nantes: A mother and her son suspected of managing a network of Chinese prostitutes

  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Investigation

  • Perpignan

  • Prostitution

  • Montpellier

  • Spain

  • Miscellaneous