Rio de Janeiro police smash prostitution ring near Olympic stadium just DAYS before Games opening ceremony
SOME of the girls involved in the ring were as young as 14
COPS in Rio have smashed a high-class prostitution ring operating in front of the stadium where Olympic Games will start in just a matter of days.
Pimps rented three luxury flats in a penthouse in Barra da Tijuca, turning it into a 24-hour brothel as they ran a child prostitution network.
Many of the expensive flats in the Villas da Barra complex are being rented out to international tourists with families and young children for thousands of pounds.
The debauched gang planned to pimp out girls to Olympic visitors and athletes.
The Olympic Park is just minutes away from the flats and is clearly visible in the recorded police images from the penthouse balcony.
Rental prices in these three-bedroom properties range from £1,500 to £5,000 per month.
Flats have swimming pools and luxury fittings.
The gang’s innocent victims were lured to the posh pads by professionally designed adverts posted on social network which promised a high-class life style living as a top model.
The girls ages ranged from 14 to 21.
Chief Inspector Cristiana Bento from the Rio de Janeiro Child and Adolescent Victims Police Division, said: “The youngsters were duped into prostitution by adverts put on Facebook.
"The girls were promised a life of a princess, living a lavish lifestyle in a classy neighbourhood.
"But instead they were trapped by these unscrupulous criminals and sexually exploited.”
According to Bento, the gang had been using the apartments for about a year.
"They had already set up and negotiated many appointments for the girls.
She said: "The criminals knew property prices would be more expensive during this period so they rented well before [the Olympics].
“Their intention was to take advantage of the increase in demand for sex because of the Olympics and they enticed vulnerable teens aged 15 to 16 years and some older girls with Facebook ads."
And an unprecedented 450,000 condoms will be distributed free during the Olympic Games, three times more than at the London Competition.
Also for the first time, 100,000 female condoms will be handed out.
The fraudsters claimed they could help would-actresses, singers and models with a ‘burning desire’ to become famous.
The advert promised applicants would receive ‘expensive clothes, access to a private gym, private medical health care, personal chauffeurs and maids to look after their every need.’
The authors guaranteed that the most beautiful and talented girls would get a scholarship which would lead to a profitable future.
Bento said: “Girls were encouraged to send in their photos, to describe their dreams and even the difficulties they faced in trying to make a successful career as a model, singer or actress.”
But it was all a sleazy con and a filthy lie.
Once the women were hoodwinked into responding to the ad, they were called for an interview, peddled the myth then told to move into one of the two apartments reserved for living in.
The third penthouse flat was for the exclusive use as a sex parlour for rich red-light clients.
As soon as the victims arrived they were barred from leaving.
The women were kept as prisoners and given a weekly party agenda.
This was their daily diary of sexual-exploitation by high-paying clients.
The victims were kept under lock and key by the gang and watched 24 hours a day, monitored by security cameras.
Bento said: “A domestic helper told us the girls were not allowed out on their own.
“They could only leave the flats with one of the gang members and these men always carried guns.”
Investigators were tipped off about the sex-ring and raided the apartment on Thursday 28 July.
However, the gang had already been alerted and had done a runner.
But the criminals left behind huge quantities of evidence.
Officers found piles of pornographic material, sexually explicit clothing, tests for syphilis and for HIV, morning-after pills, condoms, lubricants and massage gels.
The suspects have been identified as Jonathan Alves Mendes, 24, and Márcio Garcia de Andrade, 34.
Police found pictures of the two men in the abandoned apartments.
Mendes is seen leaning over the balcony in the penthouse and Andrade is captured wielding a machine gun at a gun range.
Both men appear to be comfortable living a luxury lifestyle with gold watches and expensive holidays abroad.
Bento warned the police were close on the heels of the fugitives and were determined to find and arrest all the gang members.
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