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A BDS$10 dispute over a sex fee ignited an argument, resulting in the customer reporting the brothel to police. That report led to the bust of the Barbados-Guyana human trafficking ring.Amelia Allison JosephNow three people are locked up in Barbados and face a total of three dozen charges; five Guyanese girls are stashed away in a safe house giving evidence, and Guyana’s hapless police arrested and released a female organiser of the ring, giving their usual reason of there’s not enough evidence to lay charges.Barbados police, on April 18, raided a bar in downtown Nelson Street and found the five girls clad only in bathing suits, purportedly working as prostitutes. The barman and proprietrix were arrested and slapped with 30 charges relating to human trafficking and false imprisonment. At the time police seized a quantity of passports, some said to be forged. The two will return to court on May 22.The police swoop on the Bridgetown bar, fronting for an illegal brothel, was triggered by that customer’s complaint.Eyewitnesses who frequent the bar said the fare for intercourse with any of the girls was $10 (US$1 = 50 Barbados cents), and is paid to the barman prior to entering one of the make-shift rooms for delivery.This customer however, requested anal intercourse, causing the young woman in question to emerge from the room protesting. Management told the man that such an experience requires a higher premium. He refused further payment and demanded a refund, which he was denied. Irate, he left the establishment and reported the sour transaction to police.It is understood that the accumulated intake from those standard $10 fares did not go to the girls, and $150 was deducted from each week’s total earnings for rent for the youngsters who shared their make-shift rooms of business. Though paying $150 per week each, they were made to bunk together on the small work-bed provided,Cheap Atlanta Braves Hoodies, when toiling was done.Following the arrest of the barman and business proprietrix, information has been flowing, and that has so far led to the arrest of a 76-year-old woman, who sources say posed as a grandmother of young recruits from Guyana. She faces six charges, including that of human trafficking, and was scheduled to re-appear in court yesterday, May 6.The pregnant proprietrix, initially bailed at $30,000, is now behind bars with the barman who was never offered bail. Guyanese sources resident in Barbados, and Barbadians, all who do not want to be named, indicated that the woman was taken in by police last week after she allegedly began tampering with witnesses and uttering threats.She in turn has reportedly leveled allegations to police about a Guyanese-Barbadian counterpart who functions as a recruiter of girls for prostitution, and is now in Guyana. That information led to the Guyanese-Barbadian woman being arrested by Guyana police, but subsequently released.Sources indicate that human trafficking between Guyana and Barbados for prostitution has been ongoing for years, and went unearthed by law enforcement because the girls held under bondage were kept on a tight leash. These women, including the five currently in a police safe house, were not allowed friends. Their conversation in the bar with prospective clients, were interrupted within minutes. Shopping expeditions into Bridgetown for clothes were allowed only if they were accompanied by the women now behind bars, or other controllers.With travel documents of the women taken away upon their arrival in Barbados, they are made to prostitute their bodies until the operator is satisfied that the investment has paid off, or patrons no longer request their services. Then they are put on a flight back to Guyana with whatever the business owner declares as surplus income.Keenon Chase“A young girl get send home just last month [April] with $200. She work for $5,900 but all was bills,” a Guyanese said to Kaieteur News. Apparently that bonded servant’s offence was becoming too close to a young male patron who had taken a liking to her and wanted the woman out of bondage. The younger the girls, the greater the demand.An observer spoke of seeing the 17-year-old now under police protection, on one occasion emerging from her room only to immediately fall asleep in a bar chair, tired after taking a high number of fares.The three persons arrested in Barbados so far are Amelia Allison Joseph, 36, Keenon Tristan Chase, 22, and Joan Fernandez, 76. |
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