Tourist forced to work as prostitute in TA

Ecuadorian woman who came to volunteer at a kibbutz taken by taxi from airport to Diamond Exchange compound, forced to sell her body in Tel Aviv hotel room after two suspects threaten her. Woman freed by police, suspects arrested

Eli Senyor|Published: 02.09.11 , 12:33

A 23-year-old tourist from Ecuador who came to Israel to volunteer at a kibbutz was forced to work as a prostitute by criminals. After a week in a Tel Aviv hotel room, police managed to rescue her and arrest two main suspects.

The two suspects allegedly forced the tourist to take male clients in her room and have sexual relations with them. The money she received was handed over to the suspects.

The woman booked a hotel room in Tel Aviv in advance and planned to volunteer at a kibbutz later on. When she landed in Israel her nightmare began: The taxi that was supposed to take her to her hotel dropped her off in Diamond Exchange compound in Ramat Gan where she fell prey to criminals. They escorted her to her hotel room and began threatening and humiliating her.

The suspects apparently told the naïve woman she must not leave her hotel as there were rapists and murderers out on the street. The day after she arrived they showed up at her hotel room with a man who tried to rape her.

The following day they visited her again and demanded that she see clients. At this stage the woman broke down and was forced to sleep with men for money which went directly to the suspects' hands.

Police trick suspects

Police were then informed of the matter and came to rescue her. "When we came, she couldn't believe we were there to rescue her," one officer said. She eventually broke down in tears after a translator arrived at the scene. "You saved me. They forced me to work as a prostitute. I was scared of them," she said.

Police later arrested the two suspects after tricking them into believing they were clients.

In their interrogation, one of the suspects linked himself to the case and the other denied the allegations.

"We've been dealing with human trafficking for many years but we have yet to encounter such a case," one of the detectives said. "They literally took a tourist who came to Israel to have fun, took advantage of the fact that she was alone, frightened her and just sold her body."