Police arrest Brazilian gang that lured women to work as prostitutes in Angola

Criado em 25/10/13 16h11 e atualizado em 25/10/13 16h14
Por Marli Moreira Fonte:Agência Brasil

São Paulo – Five Brazilians were arrested on Thursday (October 24) by the Federal Police (PF) for involvement in an international scheme of trafficking in women. They would lure their victims out of nightclubs in São Paulo to work as prostitutes in Angola, Africa, on high dollar offers. A brothel in Indianópolis, a district in south São Paulo, was closed down.

According to a PF statement, the women were offered to affluent clients. Two non-Brazilian liaisons of the gang working abroad are under outstanding arrest warrants and have been listed with Interpol as international wanted fugitives. In addition to the arrests, 11 search and seizure warrants were served in the cities of São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo, Cotia, and Guarulhos.

Federal police have been working on the case for a year. Over this period, they have gathered evidence that the victims were lured by the criminals at São Paulo night clubs with offers of $10,000 for one week of sex work.

The police statement went on to report “strong evidence that some victims were even stripped of their freedom while abroad, forced to have unprotected sex with foreign clients and offered a fake anti-AIDS cocktails by the criminals.”

Since their early operations in 2007, the gang have made about $45 million. The criminals will be indicted for involvement in criminal organization, international trafficking in persons, facilitating prostitution, exploiting prostitution, fraud, false imprisonment, and for putting the lives or health of others in jeopardy. The maximum combined sentences can add up to 31 years in prison.

Federal Police seized 11 vehicles, foreign currencies (euros, dollars, yens, and Angolan kwanzas), 20 passports, and small amounts of drugs in the operation, called Garina – Portuguese slang for “girl” in Angola, the criminals' primary location.

Edited by Denise Griesinger / Olga Bardawil
Translated by Mayra Borges

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