The arrest of the suspects
was triggered by an investigation by police in Lyon, where an estimate showed
that half the city’s sex workers are Nigerian.
A Nigerian pastor Stanley
Omoregie and 23 other suspected members of a sex trafficking ring accused of
forcing Nigerian women into prostitution
will go on trial today in Lyon, France the latest case to highlight the
growing use of Nigerian migrants as sex slaves in Europe.
Police authorities received
a tip about the Nigerian pastor accused of exploiting several sex workers who
lived in apartments he owned.
Omoregie denied the charge
which include aggravated pimping and slavery.
But in the transcript of a
conversation submitted to the court, he is heard saying he wanted “those with
beautiful bodies, who can be controlled, not those that cause problems.”
The prosecution has
presented him as the kingpin of a family-based syndicate made up of 10 women
and 14 men, including one of Europe’s most wanted women, Jessica Edosomwan,
accused of recruiting destitute women in Nigeria for the sex trade in Lyon,
Nimes and Montpellier.
Edosomwan, who is believed
to be on the run in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany, will be tried in
absentia.
Prosecutors estimate that
17 alleged victims, aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros ($166,000) a month
for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros.
Among the accused is a
28-year-old former prostitute who was herself released from sex slavery after
paying off her debts and who in turn brought over another young woman from
Nigeria.
Months of police wiretaps
and surveillance led to the arrest of the suspects between September 2017 and
January 2018. They risk 10 years in jail if convicted.
The UN has estimated that
80 percent of young Nigerian women arriving in Italy — their first port of call
in Europe — are already in the clutches of prostitution networks, or quickly
fall under their control.
The accused in Lyon cover
the entire gamut of sex trafficking activities, from iron-fisted “madams” and
violent pimps as well as drivers of the vans in which the women perform sexual
acts, and those tasked with laundering the proceeds of the trafficking.
Prosecutors estimate that
17 alleged victims, aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros ($166,000) a month
for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros.
Most of the women come from
Benin City, capital of Edo State, a human trafficking hotbed with a long
history of dispatching women and men to Europe to earn money to send back home.
Many told investigators
they had taken part in “juju” or black magic rituals before leaving Nigeria,
during which they promised to repay the money they owed for their passage to
Europe.
Many of the women took the
perilous migrant trail across the Sahara Desert to Libya and then across the
Mediterranean to Italy before winding up in Lyon.
Nigeria was the main
country of origin of the migrants arriving across the Mediterranean to Italy in
2016 and 2017, though their numbers have since dropped.
Many of the arrivals were
women and girls lured to Europe with false promises of jobs as hairdressers or
seamstresses, only to find themselves selling sex on arrival to repay their
debts.
Nigerians now outnumber
Chinese or Eastern European sex workers on the streets of France and some other
European countries.
Last year, 15 members of a
Paris-based female-led pimping ring known as the “Authentic Sisters” were
sentenced to up to 11 years in prison for forcing girls into sex slavery in
France.
Many were themselves former
trafficking victims-turned-perpetrators.
Similar gangs have also
been dismantled in Italy and Britain.
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