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The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) K9 unit has arrested two people on suspicion of human trafficking and rescued four women between the ages of 20 and 30 in a joint operation at Rider Street in Randburg, mayoral committee member for public safety Micheal Sun said on Saturday.
“After receiving a tip-off, the office of the JMPD K9 unit traced the suspects to a house in Randburg where two Nigerian national suspects and the four female victims were found. One of the women is from Riverlea and the other three are from the Northern Cape,” he said.
The four women confirmed to police that they were raped and photos of them wearing nothing but lingerie were taken by force. Their semi-nude photos were then posted on a website called “Red Velvet” to solicit prostitution business. The women also said they had been held captive at the premises against their will.
Sun said he was shocked at the ordeal these women had suffered. “We will not tolerate such heinous acts of crime to be done to our sisters. We will continue to bring down these criminal syndicates and do all we can to ensure that they receive the harshest jail sentence possible.”
The JMPD together with other law enforcement agencies would clamp down on brothels and human trafficking within the city. The crime of forcing young girls and women into prostitution had to be stopped.
The women had since been taken to a place of safety by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and one of them had been reunited with her parents. The two suspects were detained at the Randburg police station to face criminal prosecution, Sun said.