The Civil Guard dismantles a group dedicated to trafficking in human beings for the care of the elderly and dependents
One of the arrests has been carried out at the Madrid-Barajas airport, when one of the leaders tried to introduce three other victims in Spain for exploitation
The seven members belonging to the same family clan, had established their two bases of operations in La Rioja and Aragon
There are fifty identified victims with whom the group achieved economic benefits of more than 750,000 euros
The Civil Guard, within the framework of the so-called Ayote operation, has broken up a criminal group that had specialized in the trafficking of human beings for the care of elderly people in Spain, with serious illnesses or some type of dependency.
All the members of the group formed by four women – two of them sisters – and three men from the same Nicaraguan family clan, aged between 19 and 41, have been arrested. The members of this group acted in a structured, organized and hierarchical manner from their two bases of operations established in Logroño and Alfaro (La Rioja) and in Huesca.
One of the leaders of the group was arrested at terminal T4 of the Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suarez airport while trying to introduce three other victims from Nicaragua to Spain for exploitation. The rest of the arrests were carried out simultaneously in La Rioja and Huesca, places where four household searches were also carried out.
All detainees are considered alleged perpetrators of crimes of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation, belonging to a criminal group and money laundering.
More than 750,000 euros in profits
The Civil Guard has identified a total of fifty women who have been victims of slavery since 2016 of this organization, with whom they would have obtained economic benefits of more than 750,000 euros.
The criminal group submitted and controlled all of its victims through constant threats, intimidation, deception and coercion, intimidating them with warnings of the consequences that their relatives would face in Nicaragua, if they denounced the facts.
In addition, the basic necessities that the group leader received from different humanitarian organizations, sold them to their victims at abusive prices, charging them for a paracetamol tablet between 20 and 30 euros, thus increasing their benefits.
Victims intercepted at the Madrid airport were transferred to Logroño and informed of their rights as victims of trafficking, making available to them all assistance resources to guarantee them convenient and safe accommodation, material assistance, psychological assistance, medical assistance and legal advice.
Modus operandi
Direct family members of the criminal group residing in Nicaragua were responsible for finding victims, mainly young and uneducated women, with dependent children and at risk of social exclusion. There they were promised a decent and well-paid job in Spain. If they accepted, they bought the plane ticket and handed them 1,000 euros in cash to justify the initial stay in Spain, with a tourist visa limited to 90 days.
Once in Spain, the victims contacted a member of the organization that transferred them to the homes of Logroño, Alfaro and Huesca. Then, they withdrew their passport and the money delivered warning them that they had incurred a debt with the organization of 6,000 euros and that it had to be paid in the short term.
The head of the criminal group usurped the identity of the victims to place ads on the internet and social networks. When he closed the deal with the plaintiffs of these services, he sent the victims to carry them out, but not before instructing them under new threats.
At the end of the month, the plaintiffs paid the victims directly in black. The victims gave 85% of the money to the organization as payment of the debt incurred, with the rest remaining to be able to subsist in Spain.
When they rested or lost their jobs, the organization housed them in their homes and charged them for all services. In case of not being able to pay them, they lent money at 20% interest, which meant that the "debt" did not diminish but quite the opposite, it became an astronomical figure difficult to pay off, leaving the victims most tied to the organization.
The operation, directed by the Court of Instruction number 2 of Calahorra (La Rioja), has been carried out by the Organic Judicial Police Unit of the Civil Guard in La Rioja, collaborating in it its counterparts from Navarra, Huesca and Tres Cantos, as well as the Calahorra Main Post and the Central Cynological Unit.
