Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: 3:32 p.m., March 11, 2024

Seven members of a Nigerian gang will be tried this summer in Paris.

They are suspected of pimping their girlfriends in an organized gang in Europe in January 2019 and June 2021. “This file contains factual inconsistencies and exaggerations regarding the descriptions of the groups present,” according to the lawyer of one of the accused. 

New illustration of the activity of Nigerian gangs in France: seven members of the same organization, suspected in particular of pimping their girlfriends in an organized gang in Europe, will be tried this summer in Paris.

An investigating judge ordered their trial before the departmental criminal court for human trafficking and pimping in an organized gang between January 2019 and June 2021, in France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Nigeria, we learned on Monday. 'AFP from sources close to the matter. 

One of them will appear for having forced ten abortions on his girlfriend

The investigation showed that "each of the protagonists had several young women at their disposal, engaging in prostitution in France (...) but also abroad", according to the indictment order. made in mid-December, of which AFP became aware.

One of them, a 41-year-old hairdresser, will also appear for having forced ten abortions on his girlfriend.

"She wanted to keep the children, but he didn't, because it was not 'profitable' for a prostitute," the civil party's lawyer, Me Kathleen Taieb, told AFP.

“These groups (....) are omniscient,” she explains. “They have eyes everywhere to monitor the girls, who are under total control: romantic, psychological, financial…”

Her client thus accuses her ex of having taken 30,000 euros from her and of having beaten her.

Like the six others, the man contested the alleged facts throughout the investigations.

“This file contains factual inconsistencies and exaggerations regarding the descriptions of the groups present,” assured AFP his lawyer, Me Julien Fresnault.

Criminal organizations involved in “drug trafficking and human trafficking”

These groups are the “cult”, born in Nigeria.

Initially simple student associations, these fraternities became "openly criminal organizations from the 1990s" and are today involved in Europe "in drug trafficking and human trafficking", notes the investigating judge.

A trial recently highlighted them in France: at the end of November 2023, fifteen members of the “Arrow Baga” were sentenced by the Marseille criminal court to sentences ranging from two to ten years in prison for their ultraviolent methods, including two rapes collectives of prostitutes.

Their appeal trial will be held in April in Aix-en-Provence.

In the Paris case, the seven accused, aged 26 to 43, belong to the "Maphite", a group whose "supreme command" is ensured from Benin City, in the south of Nigeria, explains the investigating judge.

Recruited during “a violent initiation rite” with “fire”, “each member must contribute financially to the development of the organization by paying 10% of the criminal assets collected”.

The magistrate describes a “paramilitary” type organization.

They forced women to prostitute themselves and “give them gifts”

The accused do not have the same definition.

One mentions to investigators “festivities and mutual aid” within the Nigerian community.

The defendants, polygamists, also assured that their girlfriends “voluntarily shared their professional earnings”.

For the magistrate, this is typical of the "loverage" strategy: "under the pretext of a romantic relationship", they forced women to prostitute themselves and "give them gifts", also using "violence" and “threats of spells”, according to the accusation.

Me Céline Le Goff represents one of the civil parties.

Her client suffered “two traps”, she told AFP.

The first, "very young" during her transport from Nigeria to Europe: to compensate for the supposed cost of the trip, pimps forced her to prostitute herself and repay a debt of 25,000 euros.

After paying the debt, she met her Maphite companion.

“This man, who was officially her boyfriend, in reality belonged to the Maphite brotherhood and continued to exploit it,” says Me Le Goff.

Another woman, who arrived in France in 2015, said she was occasionally prostituting herself when she met her boyfriend.

His activity then becomes daily under penalty of being "beaten".

His lawyer, Me Catherine Daoud, praised his “strength of character”.

“After everything she has suffered, my client is capable of denouncing very dangerous people and intends to come to the trial”, scheduled for June 24 to July 5.