Edmonton Human Trafficing case

[sibannac]

Police say they’ve rescued three terrified immigrant women from sexual slavery in a west-end massage parlour.

They allege the women, one originally from China and two from Fiji, were lured to Edmonton from other Canadian cities with the promise of jobs as masseuses, but ended up being kept under lock and key and forced into prostitution.

It’s the first time in Western Canada that anyone’s been charged with human trafficking since the Criminal Code was amended in 2005 to make it a specific crime.

Just after midnight on Sept. 5, city police and RCMP raided Sachi Professional Massage and Spa, 17519 100 Ave. and a nearby apartment.

They arrested a man and a woman as they were leaving Sachi and found four more women inside. One was arrested and the other three were the alleged trafficking victims.

According to Det. Dave Schening, the alleged victims, who spoke almost no English, were terrified.

“There were a lot of tears and initial reluctance to talk with police,” he said. Through interpreters, “I was able to assure them that they were the victims and they weren’t in trouble.”

He said the women’s identification was taken from them by their captors, and threatened that if they didn’t do as they were told, their families would be told that they were prostitutes.

They lived at the massage parlour, he said, and were expected to service clients 24 hours a day. “They ate, drank and slept in the room they worked in.”

They weren’t beaten, tied up or physically harmed, he said. The terror of shame was enough to keep them in line.

The women, he explained, “were very traditional, very honour-oriented.”

Schener said he “was shocked. I didn’t realize the scope of this enslavement, this (psychological) intimidation.”

Anjani Lata, a member of Edmonton’s Fijian community, understands the power of emotional enslavement.

“If I was in that situation, I’d probably do the same thing,” she said. “If people thought you had (willingly) become a prostitute, you could never go home. It would be a big, big deal.”

Young Fijian women are very sheltered and innocent, Lata explained, and would be easy prey for manipulative predators.

“And then you come to a city where you don’t know anyone and don’t speak English, who are you going to tell?”

It’s critical, she said, that the families of human trafficking victims are told the whole story, before rumours begin to circulate.

The alleged victims are currently in a safehouse.

Raj Bajwa, who owns the driving school next door to Sachi, said he didn’t know the people at the massage parlour, other than to say hello.

They were quiet and didn’t cause any trouble, he said.

In fact, he didn’t even know it had been raided last weekend.

“I heard it on the news this morning,” Rajwa said. “I thought holy, that’s right next door to us.”

Today a sign on the door said Sachi was closed for renovations. In the morning its website said the renovations began Sept. 6 and it would reopen in a week. By 6 p.m. the website had been shut down.

In all, 20 charges were laid against Mei Fang Chen, 33, Xiu Zheng Chen, 32, and Qui Wang, 41. Among the charges are trafficking persons, living off the avails of prostitution and exercising control, direction or influence over a person for the purposes of prostitution. They are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 21.

andrew.hanon@sunmedia.ca

What I find very interesting about this Sunmedia article is the highlighted section.

It reads like there maybe an issue of young ladies being lured within our own Country.

I find this very disturbing.

 

[gabeti]

At a massage parlour ...

 

[WoodPeckr]

Human Trafficking

They just used the 'Human Trafficking' angle to shut down 4 AMPs around the Buffalo airport recently. Guess this is the newest tactic to be used around election time down here.

 

[WoodPeckr]

You just have to look at the timing!
It ain't rocket science...

In WNY, the police official who led the 'raid', along with Channel 7 News filming it all, is up for re-election in a couple months....

LOL!
The running joke on the ASPD review forum is that reporter Luke Moretti of CH7 News is an ASPD poster and member hobbyist who got his info for the 'bust' off that forum....

 

[sibannac]

They just used the 'Human Trafficking' angle to shut down 4 AMPs around the Buffalo airport recently. Guess this is the newest tactic to be used around election time down here.

What the *BLANK* are you talking about. What does this have to do with elections????

In the past human trafficking into North America has largely been as the destination area. This article shows a very disturbing trend, in that CANADIAN RESIDENTS maybe being enticed into these traps of slavery.

We all know that this recession has reduced the amount of money spent in the sex industry especially in the SC area. I hear this more and more from ladies that work SC and see it when I do go to a SC where I see more and more ladies working and no one spending money.

Lets face it the principal motivation to enter the sex industry is MONEY. If the money isn't there, how easy is it for some asshole to attempt to make an offer of assured income in any of the several parts of the sex industry --- this includes massage, web cam, porn, soft porn etc.

Grant it there are many street wise and experienced people in the sex industry who would not get caught in such a trap but I doubt these are the people that would be targeted. However all I can say to that is it only takes one person you trust to change your mind.

To me this is a very disturbing issue when you look at the vulnerability of sex trade workers as a whole and for it all of sudden come to light that clearly there maybe a group of people targeting sex industry workers within Canada for the purpose of enslaving them.

We would all be up in arms if a local SP was murdered, why do idiots like yourself Woody ignore the violence inflicted on these gals in Edmonton and make such a flip remark?

The above Sun Media article should be a red flag warning to all Canadian sex workers to be on their guard and remember that if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Kyra.Graves]

You just have to look at the timing!
It ain't rocket science...

In WNY, the police official who led the 'raid', along with Channel 7 News filming it all, is up for re-election in a couple months....

While I don't argue that the use of the media in the raid is most likely helpful in re-election I don't understand what harm that does or why it's relevant. It also helps to raise awareness for what is a major issue in this industry, human trafficking, forcing women into prostitution. This industry should be about choice and any media attention brought to the dark side of the industry, increasing awareness can only help the women that are forced to work in brothels and help clients to understand and recognize the warning signs so they can make educated decisions in which parlours to support and which ones they should not support.
If the raid is done pre-election and gains a lot of media attention I really do not care, the point is that it was done and the women are benefitting from it. The big picture is that these women were helped, the media informed the public in regards to the local impact of human trafficking and hopefully the police made a small dent in it as well.



Sib - thanks for posting the article.

 

[WoodPeckr]

We would all be up in arms if a local SP was murdered, why do idiots like yourself Woody ignore the violence inflicted on these gals in Edmonton and make such a flip remark?

LOL!
WTF you running off topic for and sounding like the BIGGER idiot here!
I was talking about what took place in Buffalo NY and don't have a clue what you are doing over in Edmonton. That's all wild speculation on your part, not mine, thank you! Get a grip and don't go doing a JAJA on me!.....

 

[WoodPeckr]

If the raid is done pre-election and gains a lot of media attention I really do not care, the point is that it was done and the women are benefitting from it. The big picture is that these women were helped, the media informed the public in regards to the local impact of human trafficking and hopefully the police made a small dent in it as well.

Agreed!
There was a similar 'raid' a year of two ago in WNY where 6 AMPs were hit. That time underage girls were found and freed. The guilty were taken to court. This time there was no mention of underage girls, just the trafficking angle, with elections right around the corner. AMPs in WNY are a nice easy big fat juicy target.

 

[WoodPeckr]

You think this is all a freakin' joke, I'm glad for you that aside from TERB, you have your daily entertainment.

Just pointing out the obvious as to what took place recently in WNY, which operates quite a bit differently from the GWN where you work!....

 

[Kyra.Graves]

Agreed!
There was a similar 'raid' a year of two ago in WNY where 6 AMPs were hit. That time underage girls were found and freed. The guilty were taken to court. This time there was no mention of underage girls, just the trafficking angle, with elections right around the corner. AMPs in WNY are a nice easy big fat juicy target.

Trafficking isn't about underage girls, it's about women (and men) being forced into prostitution against their will. Just because their were not any girls that were underage found does not mean that these women were not trafficked anyone of any age, race, creed can be vulnerable.

It's unfortunate that it takes an election to bring the authorities attention to it however if that is what it currently takes then I'm all for it, I would hope that WNY has an election every 6 months. The more it hits the media the more the public will start to recognize this is an ongoing issue in their area, once that is the case then they will eventually insist their politicians take part in the joint task forces that are taking place on national levels to combat the issue. Change is a slow process but it does happen, even if the interests of the politicians are self serving the big picture is that the ladies will still benefit from the actions they take - something being done is better than nothing at all.

 

[sibannac]

LOL!
WTF you running off topic for and sounding like the BIGGER idiot here!
I was talking about what took place in Buffalo NY and don't have a clue what you are doing over in Edmonton. That's all wild speculation on your part, not mine, thank you! Get a grip and don't go doing a JAJA on me!.....

What are you talking about??? I started this thread about the events in Edmonton. You came in with some kind of dimwitted response linking my thread about Edmonton with Buffalo and something about elections. That response added nothing to this thread -- so I don't get what it is you're try to accomplish here. Really the only one way off topic here is YOU

Now to speculation --- can you not read --- I even highlighted the disturbing part of the article so that even people like you can get it. As for calling people idiots, you should be careful there when something is posted so clearly and yet you can not grasp the concept of such a simple sentence.

It is not speculation when it is reported that sex workers from other CANADIAN cities are now being trapped into sexual slavery. How big of problem it is would be up for speculation, the fact that this is actually different from the past sex slavery cases in Canada ( in that they were imported from other Countries) is the issue not elections.

The only thing I can come up with for your rather silly and stupid posts is that you are hitting the bottle very hard today --- well good for you Woody, keep drinking away, sometimes you can actually drink yourself sober and when you do you'll look back on your posts here and actually feel like an ass.

 

[WoodPeckr]

What are you talking about??? I started this thread about the events in Edmonton. You came in with some kind of dimwitted response linking my thread about Edmonton with Buffalo and something about elections. That response added nothing to this thread -- so I don't get what it is you're try to accomplish here.

All I meant was to contrast the way things were handled in Buffalo with the way it's handled in Edmonton. Both countries are seeing a huge influx of people coming in from China and handle it differently....

 

[sibannac]

All I meant was to contrast the way things were handled in Buffalo with the way it's handled in Edmonton. Both countries are seeing a huge influx of people coming in from China and handle it differently....

Again what are you talking about --- this has actually nothing to do with events in Buffalo where foreigners were trapped into sexual slavery, a bad thing to say the least, but what is different about this event in Edmonton indicates that RESIDENTS of Canada were trapped, not foreigners.

Please try to stay on topic --- the more you drift the bigger fool you become.

 

[WoodPeckr]

sibby you appear confused

but what is different about this event in Edmonton indicates that RESIDENTS of Canada were trapped, not foreigners.

Please try to stay on topic --- the more you drift the bigger fool you become.

...or you are drifting buddy!....
From your OP

They allege the women, one originally from China and two from Fiji, were lured to Edmonton from other Canadian cities.
According to Det. Dave Schening, the alleged victims, who spoke almost no English, were terrified.

They don't look like residents of Canada at all.

Just saying......

 

[WoodPeckr]

Sorry your contrast is bloody ridiculous! A trafficked woman is a trafficked woman regardless of the city, state, country!

Stop it Pecker!

Freakin' Harpo!!!
It appears things are worse in Edmonton than Buffalo.....

 

[sibannac]

...or you are drifting buddy!....
From your OP

They don't look like residents of Canada at all.

Just saying......

Ok moron --- maybe you don't get it we do get a lot of people from other countries to live here --- the fact they may have originated from somewhere else is absolutely rendered meaningless when the Police report that they WHERE LURED FROM OTHER CANADIAN CITIES

Generally asshole, foreign trafficked woman are already enslaved by the time they get here --- clearly from this report they weren't before being lured to Edmonton.

You know, I really don't know why you've high-jacked this thread other than you are some pathetic loser who thinks he can debate any side of an issue.

Grow the fuck up and either contribute something of value to this issue or move on to some other thread.

To me it's really funny how you can call your self a progressive in the political forum and hold sex workers in the contempt you seem to be doing here. Believe it or not loser not all of societies ills are rooted in some giant Government conspiracy.

 

[WoodPeckr]

I would hope that WNY has an election every 6 months. The more it hits the media the more the public will start to recognize this is an ongoing issue in their area,

WNY & NY are not hobby friendly places.
When they aren't raiding AMPs they hit the street action and any Escort agencies that pop up. CL is closely watched here putting heat on the indies. Puritanical roots are much stronger down here.

 

[WoodPeckr]

sibby! Take a chill pill pal

Ok moron --- maybe you don't get it we do get a lot of people from other countries to live here --- the fact they may have originated from somewhere else is absolutely rendered meaningless when the Police report that they WHERE LURED FROM OTHER CANADIAN CITIES

Generally asshole, foreign trafficked woman are already enslaved by the time they get here --- clearly from this report they weren't before being lured to Edmonton.

LOL!
No need to do your own personal rendition of Jackass, buddy!

The USA has been called a Big Melting Pot ALSO.......DUH!!!
Our Asians are imported from other US cities to usually NYC or LA......DUH!!!!!
BUT they are still NOT US residents.....DUH!!!!!!

Maybe I was wrong and Harpo of Canada allows this stuff more than it's allowed in the USA......
Go figure?

Give Harpo a call and ask, eh.....

 

[sibannac]

LOL!
No need to do your own personal rendition of Jackass, buddy!

The USA has been called a Big Melting Pot ALSO.......DUH!!!
Our Asians are imported from other US cities to usually NYC or LA......DUH!!!!!
BUT they are still NOT US residents.....DUH!!!!!!

Maybe I was wrong and Harpo of Canada allows this stuff more than it's allowed in the USA......
Go figure?

Give Harpo a call and ask, eh.....

My last comment to you ---- You're a fucking goof.

 

[WoodPeckr]

My last comment to you ---- You're a fucking goof.

LOL!
Hey sibby, you're not bad in that regard yourself!....