An anonymous email was enough to open in our country a few months ago the investigation into the ring that brought young Colombian women to Greece and made them work in brothels in Athens and Thessaloniki.

The ring even occupied Interpol from 2020 until a few days ago in a police raid, not only the members of the ring were identified but also 51 women, coming from Colombia and very quickly found out that what they had agreed upon had nothing to do with what was actually happening.

The newspaper Patris presents the testimonies of girls – most of them mothers – who fell into the ring’s net, which forced them to surrender even if they were sick

The common point in all of them was that they were in a bad financial situation.

From the very first days, the members of the criminal organization informed them that they owed them money arising from the plane tickets, the transport taxi, the house they were staying in as well as the food.

The cost ranged from 2,400 – 2,800 euros.

“THEI wanted to stop but…I thought they would hurt me…”

25-year-old “Celine” from Medellín, Colombia, at 17, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. He manages to finish high school but then he can’t find a job anywhere.

“Because unfortunately there weren’t many jobs, I started having online sex with some clients, thus making some money. With the money I collected, I managed to open a bar, but it didn’t go very well and I closed it in 2014. Then I was cooking at my house and I used to take food to various customers after orders they gave me, this was now my job. But two years ago my daughter committed suicide which cost me a lot. I was having a hard time back in Colombia and that’s why I started thinking about leaving the country to go somewhere else to work so I could collect some money.”

A friend of hers who had worked in Greece as an extradited person will suggest her to come to our country. She accepts. Communication is made with the chief and a man named Steven who spoke Spanish.

“B. had told us that the romantic dates would cost 50 euros for 15 minutes, 100 euros for an hour and 150 euros for an hour and a half. We would keep half of each date. He also told us that the tickets cost 2,200 euros, money which we had to pay him back. They also told us that they will hold our passports once we arrive in Athens until we repay the price of the tickets. So we started by air from Megedin and arrived via Istanbul in Athens on May 23.

We took a taxi to Kallithea and a woman picked us up there.He kept our passports so we wouldn’t run away because as he told us a few days ago some other extradited women leaked it.

She gave us her cell phone and told us that she will inform us about when and in which shops we work. All our communications were through what’s up. On the floor where I lived there were a total of six rooms and at the entrance of the building and in the corridors there were cameras. The next day I started working the 20:00-06:00 shift under the nickname Celine.”

The girl in the first week works in various brothels and in the second week the woman who supervised the girls and took her receipts sent a message that she owed them more money.

“So I was forced to pay E… extra money. Sometimes 30 and other times 50 euros depending on the appointments I made. He also told me that I would be paid the agreed up to 4 appointments. On the fifth I would not be paid at all and from the sixth and then half again .This was very unfair so I was trying not to do more than 4 dates.

If I didn’t go to work one day, they fined me 100 euros, while if I was late the fine was 50 euros. There was also a girl named K…Once she took pictures of us to put on the site where the shops are advertised.

In the end, things were not as they had told me at the beginning. I had almost no money left, since I was basically working for the bosses. I could not pay an unfair debt. It was exploitation. That is why I wanted to quit and turn around. to our country. But I was very afraid to leave secretly, since I didn’t even have my passport. Three days ago they returned my passport and my friend and I decided to leave secretly.. I thought that if they understood that I wanted to leave, they would make me bad …”

“I did two to three dates a shift ..”

Another girl from Colombia took the nickname Elli. Her own debt to the members of the organization was 2,608 euros.

“If I cashed over 250 euros I knew the money wouldn’t be half but it would be 70% for the bosses and 30% for me .This was very unfair for me. Then I realized that things were not as they had told me at the beginning. At the beginning I did different shifts with two to three appointments per shift.”

Even sick people were issued

Another girl described humiliating behavior she experienced at the time she was bleeding. She was dealing with a serious gynecological problem, which had caused her continuous and continuous bleeding, and had informed the deputy head, asking her to take time off.

She did not believe her and the woman went so far as to send her a photo where the bleeding was visible. But again they did not believe her and the accused went to the house where she lived and pulled down her pants to see that she was bleeding.