Spanish police said Sunday [Jun 2] they had broken up a ring that smuggled in women from Nigeria and forced them into street prostitution by burning them with irons and using voodoo rituals.
Police arrested six Nigerian nationals, including the suspected woman ringleader, as part of an investigation launched last year after one of the prostitutes filed a complaint with the authorities.
“The control exercised over women was total, involving verbal threats as well as physical violence and various voodoo ceremonies to terrorise them,” police said in a statement. “The ring caused them serious injury through bites or by using an iron to cause second-degree burns.”