Breda escort had toddler waiting in car while she worked

The police caught five escorts working without the necessary permits during an undercover operation against illegal prostitution and human trafficking in Breda on Saturday. One of the sex workers had her 2-year-old daughter waiting in the car while she worked, the police said.

Veilig Thuis, the organization that deals with child abuse and domestic violence, was called in after the discovery of the toddler in the car. "The file of this family is known there; Veilig Thuis is working on it", the police said.

In the undercover operation, police officers made appointments to meet with escorts found on an online ad at a hotel in Breda. Once there specially trained police officers spoke with the sex workers, looking for signals of human trafficking, checking their age and residency requirements where applicable, and making sure they were working in prostitution willingly. The police spoke with a total of five sex workers in this way.

"All the ladies checked told us they do this work voluntarily, but from a certain dependency", the police said. "In most cases it was a miserable financial situation that forced them to do this work." The women spoken to are from the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Morocco. None of them had an escort permit. "In all cases, an administrative report will be drawn up and sent to the municipality."