Brussels police have carried out scores of raids as part of a major operation to crack down on a human trafficking and sexual exploitation ring in Brussels.
In an operation that saw dozens of brothels shuttered, cops took 23 suspects into custody, while seizing €20,000 in cash. The police also searched 56 homes across Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and East Flanders.
“The brothel owners are also suspected of having accumulated an abnormal economic advantage by subletting shop windows at excessive prices to sex workers,” the Brussels public prosecutor’s office said.
The women then “find themselves in a precarious and illegal situation in our country,” the prosecutor’s office added.
Additionally, 30 brothels were closed in Brussels’ red-light district located around the city’s Nord train station. Three men have been accused of bringing Nigerian and Ghanaian women to Brussels, where they charged them disproportionally high prices to rent the window and shop front, enriching themselves at the women’s expense.
