MADRID, Oct 16 — Spanish police said yesterday that they had broken up a ring that was forcing young transvestites and transsexuals into prostitution, including at least one minor.
Police said they arrested a man and a woman suspected of forcing the youths into selling their bodies at a Madrid flat where they were kept against their will.
“They were controlled 24 hours a day, lived jammed into small rooms and their exploiters forced them to pay abusive prices for any food, drink or product which they consumed,” police said in a statement.
The couple who ran the ring also sold drugs to clients and their victims “so that they would become addicted, and also so they could support their long workdays.”
Police did not say how many prostitutes had been freed in the operation, saying only that one of them was just 17 years old.
The authorities opened their investigation after discovering a web page that advertised the services of the ring. — AFP
