16-year-old saved from human trafficker’s clutches
Drug dealer was prostituting girl.
A 10-man team from Florida Sector 2 CPF saved a 16-year-old girl from Witpoortjie from the clutches of a human trafficker.
Yesterday (4 January) at about 12.30pm the chairperson of the broader CPF forum, who can not be named due to the nature of his work in the crime-fighting fraternity, received a call from the employer of the victim’s mother. According to her the girl, who has a drug problem, phoned her mother saying she was being held captive by a foreign national in a flat on Pritchard Street in Krugersdorp. The street intersects with the notorious Sivewright Street, which is regarded as one of the worst drug and prostitution hotspots in Gauteng.
He immediately assembled a team consisting of members of Florida Sector 2 CPF and arranged with them to meet at Florida Police Station at 2.30pm. He also contacted the Hawks’ human trafficking unit. He briefed the team, told them the address and showed them a photo of the girl.
On arrival in Pritchard Street they phoned the girl and told her to walk out onto the balcony of the flat on the third floor where she was being held captive. They saw her walk out but a man immediately pulled her back into the flat. The team responded, with two of its executive committee members rushing up the stairs first. They came across the suspect as he was running down the stairs. While the one CPF member apprehended him, the other one went up to the flat and found that it was locked. The suspect unlocked the door for them and they found the girl and two other young women inside. The 16-year-old was in her underwear waiting for her next ‘client’. The foreign national allegedly forced her into prostitution in return for drugs.
The Hawks then arrived and arrested the suspects on various charges including human trafficking. The other two women said they had contacted the police numerous times, but that police officers would come to the flat, take a bribe and leave.
The suspect did not have the required documents to live in South Africa.
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