WELKOM
Human traffickers arrested
Posted Fri, 02 May 2008

A 41-year-old Free State club owner and her 23-year-old daughter who allegedly forced eight women to be prostitutes were expected to appear in the Welkom Magistrate's court on Monday.

Police spokesperson Puleng Motsoeneng said the women were arrested on Tuesday after police were tipped off about the forced prostitution.

The club owner had placed advertisements in a newspaper, offering jobs to women between the ages of 18 and 30, promising wages of R4000 a month, Motsoeneng said.

Six women from Gauteng and two from Free State responded about three weeks ago, assuming they would work as waitresses.

Instead, the club owner and her daughter kept the women under strict supervision and forced them to work as prostitutes, taking the money they earned, Motsoeneng said.

The eight women were repeatedly intimidated and assaulted with a stun gun, she said.

Police were tipped off by a customer's friend and the eight women were expected to return home on Thursday.

Sapa