Illegal immigration and exploitation of prostitution: from Cagliari maxi operation throughout Italy

They organized the transfer of dozens of girls to Italy, promising them a better life. But here the young women found hell.

Six hundred financiers of the Provincial Command of Cagliari and of the central investigative service for organized crime from this morning were engaged in a massive operation in various Italian regions to track down a Nigerian criminal association aimed at international laundering of illicit capital, aiding and abetting immigration clandestine and exploitation of prostitution with the aggravating circumstance of transnationality.

The investigation is coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Cagliari.

Forty people ended up in handcuffs, 122 those involved in total.

THE INVESTIGATIONS - According to what emerged, the Nigerian girls recruited and introduced in Italy were harassed, subdued and placed in a state of psychological vulnerability with "voodoo" rites to guarantee the debt incurred to arrive in our country.

"A first investigative line originates from the acquisition of information - explains a note from the Guardia di Finanza -, subsequently corroborated with the acquisition of a complaint of a woman smuggled into Italy, concerning the existence of an extensive network of people , operating between Nigeria and Italy "which forced" young Nigerian women, in the face of promises of job opportunities in our country, to assume each debt, even 25, 50 thousand euros, including travel expenses to Italy ". Debts that the victims would have had to pay to obtain "freedom in exchange and avoid harmful consequences for themselves and their families in Nigeria".

The investigations brought to light "a network structure divided into three criminal groups rooted, respectively, in Sardinia (in the Cagliari area), in Piedmont (in the Turin area), in Emilia Romagna (in the Ravenna area), but with extensive operations in other Italian areas and transnational (in Nigeria, Libya and Germany), dedicated to the commission of the aforementioned crimes, but also to identify the victims, 50 Nigerian women, recruited and led by their compatriots from Nigeria ".

In total, 41 girls were destined for prostitution, while 9 were forced to beg in city areas where the suspects had organized "workstations" subject to their influence and managed by "madame" or "sister / brother": they yes they dealt with the exploitation of compatriots and the collection of the payment of a monthly "fee" of 150 euros. The money, according to the GDF, was mainly laundered with real estate investments to be made in Nigeria through the use of "suitcase" couriers, top-ups on prepaid cards and money-transfer channels.

Seven hawala centers were identified and currency transfers of over 11 million euros from Italy to Nigeria reconstructed. The activation of the currency contrast device of the Departments of the Corps made it possible to control 44 couriers departing from Italian airports on 86 different occasions, and to monitor the "passage" of one million and 800 thousand euros, with consequent seizure of sums for 712 thousand euro and the application of administrative sanctions for half a million euro.

MONEY IN PACKS OF PASTA - According to what was discovered by the Guardia di Finanza and the Cagliari prosecutor with the contribution of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor, the money was hidden in packs of pasta or in trolley handles. "We were confronted with a closed and compact, complex and structured organization", underlined the prosecutor of Cagliari Danilo Tronci. "We have carried out a powerful, important and articulated economic and financial activity, concentrating on bank investigations - added the head of the Scico of the Gdf, General Alessandro Barbera - deepening 63 reports of suspicious transactions and carrying out a careful analysis of the movements of money" with various channels, in total about 12 million. "This - he concluded - is one of the first activities that delineates the organized system of money transfer of an illicit nature".

(Unioneonline / D)