“RIGHT now I don’t have any meat for you. Maybe next week I’ll have some meat at home.”
These are the chilling words a human trafficker used to describe vulnerable women who were unknowingly about to be trafficked across the world for sex.
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Every year around 50,000 victims of human trafficking are detected around the world.
But due to its language and location Spain is both a destination and a transit country for victims trafficked for sex into Europe, mostly from Latin America and Africa.
And there, an elite – mainly female – police unit is fighting to dismantle a multi-million pound organised crime operation hidden in plain sight and liberate the innocent women from the sinister trap they are caught in.
In sickening secret recordings obtained by the police, women who are trafficked are degradingly referred to as ‘meat’.
Human trafficking specialist Lidia, a police sergeant who is part of the crack unit, says: “The way they talk about human trafficking and exploitation shows how they denigrate people. It shows how little they care about people’s lives.”
For many victims it all starts with a friendly voice that offers vulnerable women an opportunity when they need it the most.
But instead of being offered a fresh start abroad, they are trapped in a cycle of debt by traffickers, holed up in bed-bug ridden squats and forced to operate relentless around the clock as sex workers – driven to drugs and even, sadly, suicide.
Victoria, not her real name, is one woman rescued by the unit – now in witness protection – with a truly harrowing but typical story.
She told a new BBC documentary, 100 Women: Raid on the Brothel Next Door: “My father went missing in 1986. Two years later my mother met someone else.
“This man was a paedophile. He raped my sister. She was only 12 when he raped her. I could only think about getting a job, a house to rescue my siblings from poverty.
“I was having a really hard time and then I met a woman. She called me and said she was managing a cleaning company that worked with hostels in Spain. She was going to let me stay with her, sort out a contract.
“I thought, ‘ what an amazing opportunity.’”
When the traffickers arrange for women like Victoria to go to Spain they buy their flights, lend them money and make it seem easy.
Human trafficking police officer Cristina says: “Often the groomers are people from the neighbourhood, from the same circles as the victims.”
Lidia adds: “The victims are often unaware, then they realise it was the person they thought was a friend, or a cousin or someone from their own family who sold them.”
Squalid conditions
The documentary was given unique access to police raids on some of the brothels, which highlighted the squalid and degrading conditions the women were expected to live and work.
One house had rows of tiny red-painted rooms with just a wooden single bed.
Another raid uncovered the newly-issued passport of one of the victims, stained mattresses and stashes of condoms and cash.
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Victoria from Colombia, tells how quickly her dreams turned into a nightmare.
“The woman bought my plane ticket,” she recalls. “She travelled on the seat next to me. Her husband picked us up on arrival. They took me to their house or a private home. She said there was a problem with my social security number and she was going to look into it.
“I owed 3,000 Euros that I had to pay. I was terrified. I told her I couldn’t face that debt.
“She said, ‘I will pay, but I have a flat and I’m going to take you there, you’ll have to work for a while.’
“She told me it was temporary, I was stunned. She kept my passport, my Colombian ID, all my documents. I was shocked, I started to cry and I begged her to let me go. ‘No way’, she said.”
Sick gangs
But women like Victoria are just a very lucrative commodity for the trafficking gangs.
Police officer Cristina says: “A victim once testified tear she generated a profit of 40,000 euros in just four to six months. That’s just one person, and they’ll usually have five, ten victims in a flat.”
Lidia adds: “All the money is kept by the gangs. They will give her a little and she will send that back home, as they usually have children and family there. She is left with nothing. It’s all profit for the criminal organisation.”
The gangs even charge the women rent, extra for sheets and towels and they get fined if the kitchen is left dirty or the rubbish isn’t taken out. All this adds to their spiralling debt.
They cram in as many women as they can – in every corner they can fit
Alumedea Garcia-Parrado
The documentary’s director, Almudena Garcia-Parrado, witnessed the conditions the women were being forced to live in first hand, often under the watch of security cameras installed by the gangs.
“They cram in as many women as they can – in every corner they can fit,” she tells The Sun.
“Sometimes you see their little suitcases not even unpacked.
“The conditions can be inhumane. You see bed bugs on the mattresses, and it reminded me of when I’ve done work in developing countries.
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“You go into these places, and think how can this be happening in Spain?”
Victoria bravely tells the horror of her daily life in captivity: “You work 24 hours. You never rest, you have to sleep with your make up on and just in your underwear.
“You are not allowed to wear normal clothes, You always have to be in your underwear, ready for any customer that may arrive.
“You cannot say no to anything because you feel nobody can protect you. The neighbours, the postman, everyone knew.
“They could have killed me and nobody would have asked any questions. Why would anyone check on a prostitute? ‘Ah, she’s a dirty woman.’ ‘That prostitute, she is in here for the drugs.’”
Hidden horrors
Although the unit rescued hundreds of women last year, they know many more like Victoria go undetected.
Lt Paula Matutano Jimenez, from the criminal intelligence unit, says: “Human trafficking in Spain is an invisible crime. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation has increased since the Covid-19 lockdowns.
“In the past, prostitution was mostly happening in nightclubs where the Guardia Civil and the police conduct routine inspections. During the pandemic when we were confined to our homes, prostitution didn’t stop, it just relocated to private flats.
“Here in Madrid any of us could be living next to a human trafficking house.”
I remember when one of the girls overdosed, and they said, ‘If she dies, we’ll just put her on the bench next to the rubbish bins’
Victoria
Almudena adds that many of the hidden brothels are located in areas popular with tourists, in order to cater for the international market
Investigators told her that in some places, Brits were among the paying customers.
“The police rescue victims from all over the world, including English-speaking victims that come from Africa,” she said.
“Sadly, these victims will be more suitable for British customers. They almost have this catalogue of people that they can offer to the customers.
“You can come to a touristy place and go and use one of these places, but you’re contributing to the most horrific suffering that a person can go through, and take years to recover from.”
Spanish investigators have worked closely with UK organisations, including the National Crime Agency, in their attempts to smash the gangs.
Sometimes the gangs themselves are based in this country, even though they operate in Spain and use the European nation as a transit country for human trafficking.
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Lifelong trauma
The officers say the women are monitored 24 hours a day, often locked in their rooms, meaning escape is impossible.
And the gangs often make threats to their families back home, leading some of them to desperate measures to end their suffering.
Victoria says: “I tried to take my own life twice, with drugs. I remember when one of the girls overdosed, and they said, ‘If she dies, we’ll just put her on the bench next to the rubbish bins. I will never forget that.
“Girls had fake documents to hide they were underage. They were destroying their lives and their innocence.”
It can take years for the women rescued to overcome the trauma of their ordeal, with many of them often having to live and work under false names as they reintegrate into normal life.
How much human trafficking happens in the EU and UK?
DESPITE the efforts of anti-crime organisations to bring down those responsible for human trafficking, it remains a major issue both within the EU and UK.
Data released in January revealed the shocking extent of human trafficking into the EU.
There were more than 10,000 victims of human trafficking registered in EU member nations in 2022 alone.
This is a 41 per cent increase in numbers compared to the year before.
And many more go undetected and unreported, meaning the true number will be much higher.
Of these, over half – 63 per cent – were women and girls.
Among cases where the age is known, children make up 15 per cent of all victims.
It is estimated that victims of sexual exploitation may earn traffickers up to €14 billion.
In the UK, victims of human trafficking are often forced into sexual exploitation, or forced to work in places such as construction sites
Here efforts to thwart human traffickers are led by the National Crime Agency’s Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit.
The National Referral Mechanism is used as a framework to identify potential victims of modern slavery, and in 2023 received more than 8,300 referrals from within the UK.
Members of the public can call the modern slavery helpline on 0800 0121 700, or report it online at www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/report
Many are overcome with guilt and sometimes see themselves as to blame for what they went through.
Almudena said: “When I met the victims, I realised that they think what has happened is their fault.
“For them to identify as victims is really hard, so they blame themselves a lot.
“The damage is so long lasting.”
Christina says Victoria is a hero to her and her team. She says: “She is very special for us having gone through terrible experiences. She is an example of how to overcome an ordeal and she’s often the one giving us the strength to keep fighting against these crimes.”
Victoria adds: “I go out on the street and breathe and I say, ‘My God, thank you, I’m alive.’ I feel free, it’s the best feeling. I have no words to describe it. And they made it happen for me.”
The BBC 100 Women and BBC World Service documentary Raid on the Brothel Next Door is available now on iPlayer