The National Police have freed 15 Chinese women in Palma who were victims of sexual exploitation after being recruited through social media advertisements by a criminal organisation from China, and have arrested 14 people, 12 in the Balearics and 2 in Barcelona. In a statement on Saturday, the police reported that seven of the 14 detainees – 13 Chinese nationals and one Spaniard – have been remanded in custody by court order.
The women had to be available 24 hours a day, were continuously monitored and forced to perform sexual services both in flats and at private homes. They were also ‘bought and sold’ between different exploitative organisations so that they could be rotated from one place to another. The police carried out ten raids and searches on properties in Palma and closed down three clandestine brothels.
The Pascua operation began in April 2025, after two anonymous communications were received at trata@policia.es, in which several Chinese women asked for help and warned that they were being exploited and sexually assaulted in flats in Palma. A ‘key’ testimony in the investigation was provided by another woman who managed to escape from one of the premises where she was being held.
The victims were recruited through advertisements on social media and deceived about the true nature of their work in Spain. Some were already on the mainland, while others travelled to Madrid from China via Dubai and Serbia after accepting false job offers as massage therapists, cooks or carers, with salaries of around €2,000 per month. The organisation covered the travel expenses, creating a debt that the women had to pay off by working as prostitutes. Once in Palma, the victims were taken to brothels, where they were restricted in their movements and unable to refuse clients.
In some cases, they were forced to have sex without condoms, for which the network charged a higher price. All earnings had to be handed over in full to the organisation, which only returned a portion of the money after deducting rent and living expenses. In addition, the organisation offered the victims the possibility of regularising their administrative situation in Spain through fraudulent marriages, in exchange for large sums of money.
Once their situation had been regularised, the network used the women’s identities to open bank accounts, contract supplies or register telephone lines, with the aim of concealing the identity of those responsible for this criminal organisation. The officers found that the network significantly increased its profits by selling narcotic and sexual stimulant substances to clients. In one of the brothels investigated, revenues reached 1.2 million in a single year.
During the police searches, five high-end vehicles, €190,000 in cash, knives and prohibited weapons such as tasers, katanas and knives were seized, as well as jewellery, watches, mobile phones, point-of-sale terminals used to charge for sexual services and extensive documentation related to the criminal activity. The operation is part of the National Police Plan against Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation. The National Police reminds the public that the telephone number 900 10 50 90 and the email address trata@policia.es are available for anonymous and confidential reporting of this type of crime.