“They were exploited in an absolutely industrial way throughout France”, according to Commissioner Elvire Arrighi.

A transatlantic pimping network, which exploited at least fifty women in France and allegedly pocketed up to 30 million euros a year, was dismantled on Tuesday in France but also in Spain and Colombia, a-t- we learned Friday from a French police source.

A couple, at the head of the network, was imprisoned in Colombia, four men and two women were arrested in Spain and will soon be handed over to France, and two men and two women must be presented to French justice on Friday, a- we said from the same source, confirming information from the

Parisian

and France Inter.

The investigation, entrusted since September 2021 to the National Jurisdiction in charge of the fight against organized crime (Junalco), was opened for pimping, aggravated human trafficking, money laundering in an organized gang and association of criminals, indicated to the AFP a judicial source.

The victims aged 20 to 40 were "mainly Colombians and Venezuelans, but also from Peru and Paraguay", Commissioner Elvire Arrighi, head of the Central Office for the Suppression of Human Trafficking, told AFP. Humans (Ocrteh), who piloted the dossier.

“They were exploited in an absolutely industrial way throughout France”, up to ten passes per day, she added.

The network was managed from Colombia by a couple made up of a Venezuelan and a Colombian who promised the recruited victims a better future in Europe and reaped the rewards.

Two "call centers" in Spain, in Malaga and Madrid, and another in France, were responsible for connecting French clients and victims.



At the end of the chain, "little hands" took care of the logistics (meals, transport, security, etc.) "as close as possible to the victims", so that they "dedicated themselves entirely to the passes", adds the commissioner.

In total, the network would have pocketed at least five million euros per year, but it is "a low range" according to the head of the Ocrteh whose investigators believe that it can reach "20 to 30 million euros ".

The commissioner underlines “the unprecedented international cooperation” between France, Colombia and Spain, which shows that “in the face of organized crime without borders, police forces can join forces, including beyond the oceans”.

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