39 Nigerian sex slaves have been rescued by the Spanish police from a sex trafficking ring on Thursday, March 22, 2018 according to Europol.
Police officers rescued the trafficked victims who had reportedly been intimidated with voodoo threats and kept in "squalid conditions in caves". Most of the victims were under the age of 18.
The raid was organized by Spanish authorities in conjunction with British and Nigerian enforcement authorities.
"The victims, many under the age of 18, were believed to have undergone voodoo 'juju' rituals in Nigeria to force them to comply with orders," reports Reuters.
89 people were arrested in the sex bust including a Nigerian DJ. The unnamed famous Nigerian disc jockey was arrested for his connection to a notorious Nigerian gang responsible for the trafficking of the victims who were smuggled from Nigeria into Spain and forced into sex work.
According to a report by the BBC, the Nigerian DJ was arrested while flying back to Spain after recording a music video. He is under suspicion for helping to move victims to Spain and organise sexual exploitation across the country.
The gang as members are believed to force the victims into sex work in order to pay off a N15 million (€30,000; $37,000; £26,000) debt incurred from smuggling them from Nigeria to Spain via Libya and Italy.
Investigations into the gang had started after an underage victim filed a complaint with the police, saying she had been pressured into trafficking by voodoo threats made in Nigeria.
With the gang allegedly operating all over the world, Europol's operation was carried out with police from the United Kingdom and Nigeria as 41 houses were searched in 11 Spanish cities and one city in the UK.
The criminal gang has been linked with the Eiye Confraternity, one of the most influential groups in Nigeria, and Europol describes it as one of the biggest trafficking busts in Europe.
The Spanish police has compared the Eiye Confraternity to the American-Italian mafia of the 1930s.
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