It is a sad reality that there is often news of people trafficking with the aim of prostituting the victims, normally young girls lured with promises of good jobs.

This time, however, the victims were men.

The police operation, Promises, cracked a gang that operated by approaching fit, young men in South America, promising them a lucrative future in Europe, working in their own profession.

The eight victims were told that they had to pay their own air fares but that they would very quickly recuperate that outlay once they started work. Some families had to borrow money from loans sharks incurring extortionate interest rates.

However, once in Spain they had their money and passports taken from them and kept in a flat in Prado del Rey (Cádiz).

They were kept in poverty, lacking basic foods and necessities. It was then that they were told that they could earn money for food if they participated in homosexual chat forums to arrange dates. If these dates ended in paid encounters the gang leader would then threaten the victim with making it known to their families back in South America, thus trapping them even further.

The police raided the flat and liberated the eight victims, one of which was a minor. All of them now have the status of victims of human traffickers and will receive medical and psychological care.

(News: Prados del Rey, Cadiz, Andalucia)