Police in UK and Spain smash 'voodoo' prostitution ring where women were made to eat raw chicken hearts as their nails and hair were pulled out in cruel rituals

  • Police smashed a gang accused of trafficking women to work as prostitutes 
  • One of the arrests was made in Manchester by National Crime Agency officers 
  • Detectives say victims were captured in poor parts of Nigeria and terrorised 
  • Voodoo rituals were performed to 'break their will' before they were smuggled into Europe to work using fake travel documents

By Gerard Couzens for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

Twelve people have been arrested in Spain and the UK after police smashed an African gang accused of trafficking women to work as prostitutes using horrific voodoo rituals.

One of the arrests was made in Manchester by National Crime Agency officers.

Spanish police who made the other 11 arrests say the women were made to eat raw chicken hearts and drink whisky in sickening rituals while their nails were yanked off and hair pulled out.

They travelled to the UK to help the NCA execute a European Arrest Warrant and property search.

Twelve people have been arrested in Spain and the UK after police smashed an African gang accused of trafficking women to work as prostitutes

Twelve people have been arrested in Spain and the UK after police smashed an African gang accused of trafficking women to work as prostitutes

Detectives say victims were captured in poor parts of Nigeria and terrorised using voodoo rituals to 'break their will' before being smuggled into Europe to work using fake travel documents.

Most ended up in brothels in Spain after time in Italy.

Two of the 11 Spanish arrests took place in the Costa Blanca capital of Alicante and the rest in the northern provinces of Cantabria and Vizcaya.

Four prostitutes are said to have been rescued as part of the operation, which also involved European crime-fighting agency Europol and Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

A spokesman for Spain's National Police confirmed: 'National Police, in conjunction with Europol, the National Crime Agency and the NAPTIP in Nigeria, have smashed an international gang in Spain and the UK dedicated to the trafficking of people they were sexually exploiting.

'The organisation submitted its victims to voodoo rituals which consisted of eating a raw chicken heart while they drank whisky and had their nails yanked off and their hair including their pubic hair pulled out.

Detectives said the women were made to eat raw chicken hearts and drink whisky in sickening rituals while their nails were yanked off and hair pulled out

Detectives said the women were made to eat raw chicken hearts and drink whisky in sickening rituals while their nails were yanked off and hair pulled out

'Officers have arrested 12 people suspected of belonging to the network including seven in the Spanish province of Cantabria, two in Vizcaya, two in Alicante, and one in Manchester.

'They have also freed four women who were being prostituted in Spain.'

Claiming the network had a 'strong structure' in countries like Nigeria, Spain, the UK and Italy, the spokesman added: 'The rituals were used to guarantee the submission of the victims and thanks to them, the organisation achieved their aim of control with a simple telephone call without the need for madams in the same place the exploited women were.

'The victims committed through the rituals to paying the debt they'd built up with their journey to Spain and promised not to report the people exploiting them to police.

'They were warned that if they did raise the alarm, they and their families in Nigeria would come to great harm.'

Italy was outed recently as another European country where Nigerians were put to work as prostitutes.

Investigative journalist and author Anna Pozzi said girls aged as young as 13 were being promised jobs as babysitters and hairdressers but forced into prostitution when they reached Europe with threats of gang rape and voodoo curses.

Spanish police say they believe the gang they smashed was led by a couple based in Torrelavega near the northern port city of Santander who were the 'common link' with the rest of its members.

They are suspected of deciding where the victims should work as prostitutes - and making phone calls to Nigeria to threaten the families of the women if they fell behind on their debt repayments as well as instructing witch doctors on when to stage their voodoo rituals.

 

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