Five people have been arrested in Italy for
smuggling Nigerian women into Europe and
forcing them into prostitution, according to Italian
Carabinieri Police.
The suspects, apprehended in the Sicilian town of
Messina, were part of an organised crime racket
that smuggled “at least 15’’ unaccompanied
minors into “several European Union countries’’
via Libya and Sicily, the police said in a
statement yesterday.
The syndicate relied on an Italian accomplice who
worked in a migrant charity.
According to Police, he would help the criminals
trace the women after their arrival in Sicily and
contribute to forcing them into prostitution.
The Carabinieri said they documented criminal
activity during the 2015 to 2017 period.
They said “black magic’’ rituals would be
performed on the young women before they left
Nigeria, to force them into submission.
Some of the arrested also dabbled in heroin
trafficking, police said.
In 2017, a report by the International Organisation
for Migration said three-quarters of the roughly
11,000 Nigerian women who landed in Italy in
2018 may have been taken there by s*x
traffickers.
The IOM, a UN agency, said it was difficult to
make precise estimates because most victims of
the s*x trade are afraid to speak up.
They are also afraid to seek assistance because
they are: ashamed; submissive to traffickers
accompanying them on migrant boats; or fear
retaliation against their relatives
Source: thenationonlineng.net/five-arrested-italy-forced-prostitution-nigerian-women/
