Massage parlors exploiting sex workers of Asian origin have been dismantled since June in Troyes, Tours, Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), Saint-Jean-de-Braye (Loiret) and Limoges where the manager of a Salon was arrested and taken into custody Thursday, we learned from a police source. "
About twenty girls
", Asians from 25 to almost 50 years old, are among the victims, explained Anthony De Freitas, divisional commissioner and territorial director of the judicial police of Limoges, where the investigation began in September 2020 on the based on intelligence gathered by the PJ. No girl wanted to file a complaint, he said, adding: "
There was no coercion or violence exercised
."
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The investigation, carried out in collaboration with the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings under the aegis of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Bordeaux, led to the arrest on June 5 of four people, including one couple residing in the Orleans region and suspected of being at the head of the network.
It is a 49-year-old Chinese woman, very introduced into the community and having already worked in salons, and a French, 60-year-old banking executive, both unknown to the police.
Among those arrested are also a 60-year-old Parisian, used as a nominee for administrative procedures, and a 60-year-old webmaster suspected of organizing the recruitment of new victims on Chinese networks.
A "very remunerative" activity
These four people were indicted for aggravated pimping in an organized gang, money laundering in an organized gang and criminal association.
The couple and the Parisian were placed under judicial control and the webmaster, already imprisoned for identical facts when he was heard, remained in detention.
Hosted in a rudimentary way, practicing massages "
with finishing
" or with fellatio, for 30 to 50 euros, the victims would have brought the couple several hundred thousand euros in one year.
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"
The activity was very profitable and quite easy to set up
", indicated the boss of the PJ of Limoges, specifying that the couple, who came to collect the envelopes of money in the living rooms and made turn the girls in the various cities, planned to open other establishments.
Customers were recruited by classified ads in newspapers where simple "
massages
" were offered, by internet or by word of mouth.
Some 60,000 euros in cash and 250,000 euros in bank accounts and life insurance were seized during searches.
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