Cops seek more trafficking victims

Police have made arrests after Romanian women said they were sexually exploited in parlours

After announcing several recent arrests in the sexual exploitation of young Romanian women working in Montreal-area massage parlours, the RCMP are asking people to be on the lookout for more victims. A local group pushing for a provincial strategy to fight human trafficking tells Michelle Lalonde that the vast majority of those exploited here are not illegal immigrants, but Quebecers.

The RCMP is asking for the public’s help in identifying more victims of a human-trafficking operation responsible for the sexual exploitation of young Romanian women in several erotic massage parlours on the island of Montreal.

As part of its Project Combative, a year-long investigation into a Romanian organized crime ring, the RCMP has made several arrests over the last few months, RCMP officials announced at a news conference on Wednesday.

The most recent is that of 38-yearold Marius Trifu Miclescu of StLaurent, who was arrested and arraigned Wednesday on 15 charges, including human trafficking, procuring, and living off the avails of prostitution.

Four women, all of Romanian origin, allege that Trifu Miclescu coerced and threatened them into performing sexual acts at massage parlours.

“There are over 350 massage parlours on Montreal Island right now, and (there are more) on the South Shore and North Shore, and we have found prostitution in those types of businesses, and in this case there was human trafficking,” said Cpl. Caroline Letang, who is with the RCMP’s Immigration and Passport section.

Since July, the RCMP have arrested six other individuals — three from Toronto, two from Cornwall and one from Montreal — for their alleged involvement in the same criminal organization. Three of those are accused of organizing the illegal entry of a Romanian family through the Akwasasne reserve near Cornwall, Ont.

Another Cornwall man (Trieu Van Bui, 47) was arrested by U.S. authorities and is being detained in the United States, while police have issued an arrest warrant for a ninth suspect in this operation, 54-year-old Valentin Dumitru of St-Léonard.

The RCMP’s Letang asks that people be on the lookout for victims of this type of crime, and to report their suspicions to the RCMP at 1-800-771-5401.

“If you see someone, for example, being driven here and there, who doesn’t have access to her own documents, who doesn’t speak (English or French), who is very reserved … I’m not saying anyone who is reserved (is a victim), but these are all signs, if you put all this together. … Do they know where the corner store is or where the police (station) is? Someone who lives here and has freedom of movement, usually does know these things.”

Human trafficking has been illegal in Canada since 2005, but some accuse Quebec of lagging behind other provinces in tackling this type of crime.

“We have one of the biggest problems in the country in human traf- ficking; Montreal is often referred to as the Las Vegas of the north in terms of sex tourism,” said Coleen MacKinnon, founder of Les Affranchies, a Montreal-based group lobbying for a provincial strategy to combat human trafficking in Quebec. MacKinnon says this problem is often ignored because middle-class Quebecers think it only affects illegal immigrants and the very poor. In fact, she notes, the vast majority of victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Quebec are Quebecers, and children from all backgrounds can be lured into what has become a lucrative underground business.

“Prostitution is the second-biggest source of revenue for organized crime (after the drug trade) and over the last few years, prostitution has undergone a major transformation on our territory,” said Chief Insp. Johanne Paquin, who co-ordinates the prostitution file for the Montreal police.

While prostitutes used to ply their trade mostly on the streets, Paquin said, now escort agencies and massage parlours operate underground, using the web to reach customers, and those businesses are multiplying. Police have had to change their approach, too. That’s why the department’s committee on violence and gangs has been working on a threeyear action plan on prostitution and human trafficking that will be made public by the end of the year.

MacKinnon said a large public awareness campaign is needed to educate potential victims and police. More money and human resources need to be devoted to the problem so that victims can immediately get shelter, translation services and “profound rehab therapy, because often these girls are being forced into taking drugs to so they can handle servicing 10 to 30 men a day.”

Finally, police departments in large cities like Montreal should have a dedicated unit to deal with human trafficking, she said.

Paquin said all of these elements will be included in the Montreal police’s action plan on prostitution.