Teen exposes human-trafficking syndicate in Vryheid
The teen says she was thrown into a room where a number of other young women were also being held against their will.
Picture: Thinkstock
A teenage victim of human trafficking managed to escape the clutches of her captors, and alerted police to the chilling possibility of a syndicate operating in the area around Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal.
Police have not yet been able to locate the house in which the teen was being kept, and are therefore unable to free the other women being held captive, possibly to be sold into forced labour or sexual exploitation, Vryheid Herald reported.
The 18-year-old woman, who managed to get away, told police she had been abducted while walking alone near Bhekuzulu Primary School, where she was grabbed and dragged into a silver Ford Bantam by three unknown men.
The three are said to have stopped next to her and pulled her into the car without a single word. They then drove in the direction of West End Supermarket.
A jersey was pulled over her face, and they drove on for what seemed like half an hour.
They finally arrived to an area she did not recognise, and she was thrown into a room where a number of other young women were also being held against their will.
The women in the room informed her that they were in the KwaMachanca area in Mondlo.
The teen fortunately escaped captivity, and reported the incident to the Vryheid SAPS last week.
One of the men has since been arrested. The other two are still at large. It is believed that the three may be operating as a syndicate to sell the women they keep, and a human trafficking case is being investigated.
– Caxton News Service
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