MinaKamina
Eclipsigrina ~ August 12, 2026
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Jacobspad 2017
If you still feel like giving money to beggars, first read this. Do you really want to support human trafficking and mafia with your gift?
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/10/28/galicia/1540732401_716646.html
Police liberate 10 immigrants forced by a Romanian mafia to beg and act as statues in Santiago.
The network targeted people with "physical and mental disabilities" and women were also forced into prostitution.
The criminal organisation investigated for alleged crimes of human trafficking for the purpose of begging and sexual exploitation "captured its victims in Romania, preferably with physical and mental disabilities", and brought them to Spain "under a false promise of work." These people in "vulnerable situations" were promised a decent future, with "housing and a job in the hotel sector." Disabilities, says the police, would be very "profitable" to this mafia "for the real jobs, such as begging, they were going to do here."
With these promises, the victims agreed to travel to Spain, sometimes accompanied by their families, and they were transferred to the province of A Coruña "where they were housed in substandard housing controlled by the organization. The buildings "had deplorable conditions of health, hygiene and safety" and they "remained overcrowded."
It didn't matter if it rained or if there was a heat wave: according to the agents, "the investigated forced the victims to beg in the streets of Santiago, begging on their knees during days that lasted all day regardless of the weather conditions." "They also acted as mimes or human statues, collecting money without time to rest or eat," and everything they got was handed over "immediately" to the bosses. The persons now arrested were "particularly violent" when some of their clandestine workers "became ill and could not go out into the street." The women, moreover, were "threatened and controlled at all times by the owner of the place" where they were pushed into prostitution.
Apart from the three people arrested in Santiago, the investigators aim to locate their contacts abroad. They have already requested three European arrest and extradition warrants for the gang members "who are residing outside Spain." The National Police Force recalls that there is a "trafficking telephone" (900 10 50 90) and an email (trata@policia.es), attended by specialized police and "at the disposal of the citizens 24 hours a day." Since October 2017 they have received "more than 2,000 communications in calls and mail. In the same period, "more than 1,200 people linked to criminal organizations of trafficking and sexual exploitation" have been arrested and "290 victims" have been rescued, mainly "of Romanian, Nigerian, Chinese and Dominican nationality."
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/10/28/galicia/1540732401_716646.html
Police liberate 10 immigrants forced by a Romanian mafia to beg and act as statues in Santiago.
The network targeted people with "physical and mental disabilities" and women were also forced into prostitution.
The criminal organisation investigated for alleged crimes of human trafficking for the purpose of begging and sexual exploitation "captured its victims in Romania, preferably with physical and mental disabilities", and brought them to Spain "under a false promise of work." These people in "vulnerable situations" were promised a decent future, with "housing and a job in the hotel sector." Disabilities, says the police, would be very "profitable" to this mafia "for the real jobs, such as begging, they were going to do here."
With these promises, the victims agreed to travel to Spain, sometimes accompanied by their families, and they were transferred to the province of A Coruña "where they were housed in substandard housing controlled by the organization. The buildings "had deplorable conditions of health, hygiene and safety" and they "remained overcrowded."
It didn't matter if it rained or if there was a heat wave: according to the agents, "the investigated forced the victims to beg in the streets of Santiago, begging on their knees during days that lasted all day regardless of the weather conditions." "They also acted as mimes or human statues, collecting money without time to rest or eat," and everything they got was handed over "immediately" to the bosses. The persons now arrested were "particularly violent" when some of their clandestine workers "became ill and could not go out into the street." The women, moreover, were "threatened and controlled at all times by the owner of the place" where they were pushed into prostitution.
Apart from the three people arrested in Santiago, the investigators aim to locate their contacts abroad. They have already requested three European arrest and extradition warrants for the gang members "who are residing outside Spain." The National Police Force recalls that there is a "trafficking telephone" (900 10 50 90) and an email (trata@policia.es), attended by specialized police and "at the disposal of the citizens 24 hours a day." Since October 2017 they have received "more than 2,000 communications in calls and mail. In the same period, "more than 1,200 people linked to criminal organizations of trafficking and sexual exploitation" have been arrested and "290 victims" have been rescued, mainly "of Romanian, Nigerian, Chinese and Dominican nationality."