the state-run National Statistics Institute show a quarter of males younger than 49 in Spain have paid for sex) is satisfied by a population of sex workers who are over 95 per cent extranjeras (of foreign nationality). These women, who are ‘owned’ by mafias here, are trafficked from all over the world - most commonly from Russia, Romania, Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia, with Romanian trafficking mafias becoming especially prolific. Spain is also a transit stop for victims en route to France, Germany and Portugal.
In 2005, a huge police operation in Andalucía and Extremadura discovered 54 Brazilian women who had been trafficked on false pretences and forced into prostitution on arrival. In this case, 11 Spaniards and three Brazilians were arrested and accused of trafficking.
