7 Arrested For Forcing Nigerian Women Into Prostitution

Italian police said on Thursday that seven people who lured
Nigerian women to Italy “with voodoo rituals” and then forced them
into prostitution have been arrested in Nuoro, Sardinia.

In a statement police said the traffickers allegedly performed
voodoo rituals on the women to make them swear to repay the cost of
the trip to Europe, and warn them that their relatives would die if
they did not.

“Once in Italy, criminals would help the women escape from
migrant centres and take them to the north-western city of Turin,
where they would be told that prostitution was the only way in
which they could repay their debt.

“Some women were asked to pay as much as 30,000 euros (35,200
dollars),’’ the police said.

On July 22, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
had issued a report saying that three-quarters of the roughly
11,000 Nigerian women who landed in Italy in 2016 may have been
taken there by sex traffickers.

The IOM, a UN agency, said it was difficult to make precise
estimates because most victims of the sex trade are afraid to speak
up and seek assistance because of shame, submission to traffickers
accompanying them on migrant boat, or fear of retaliation against
their relatives.

In a separate incident in the Nuoro area, a local migrant centre
was attacked overnight by a powerful makeshift bomb that destroyed
one of its side entrances.

Two of the 64 migrants hosted there reported light injuries to
their legs.

Italian police said on Thursday that seven people who lured
Nigerian women to Italy “with voodoo rituals” and then forced them
into prostitution have been arrested in Nuoro, Sardinia.

In a statement police said the traffickers allegedly performed
voodoo rituals on the women to make them swear to repay the cost of
the trip to Europe, and warn them that their relatives would die if
they did not.

“Once in Italy, criminals would help the women escape from
migrant centres and take them to the north-western city of Turin,
where they would be told that prostitution was the only way in
which they could repay their debt.

“Some women were asked to pay as much as 30,000 euros (35,200
dollars),’’ the police said.

On July 22, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
had issued a report saying that three-quarters of the roughly
11,000 Nigerian women who landed in Italy in 2016 may have been
taken there by sex traffickers.

The IOM, a UN agency, said it was difficult to make precise
estimates because most victims of the sex trade are afraid to speak
up and seek assistance because of shame, submission to traffickers
accompanying them on migrant boat, or fear of retaliation against
their relatives.

In a separate incident in the Nuoro area, a local migrant centre
was attacked overnight by a powerful makeshift bomb that destroyed
one of its side entrances.

Two of the 64 migrants hosted there reported light injuries to
their legs.