20 transgender sex workers have been freed from a criminal network in Spain.
The network was hosting fake "Miss Trans" competitions in Venezuela and promising winners a new life in Spain. Travel, accommodations, and even sex reassignment surgery were promised under the guise of the scam.
Contestants were transported to Spain where their travel documents were taken from them, and they could get back their passports after paying back a debt of 15,000 Euros. Workers had to either deal drugs or perform sex work to pay off the debt and were made available 24 hours a day.
Victims were housed in "inhumane conditions" in apartments in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
14 people have been arrested in involvement with the criminal activities.
H/T: Pink News