Amsterdam closes Zuidoost home in human trafficking case

The city of Amsterdam closed a home in Zuidoost due to suspicions of human trafficking. Municipal inspectors and the police followed an online prostitution ad to the home and found two women working there as sex workers in exploitative conditions.

The municipal inspectors responded to the advertisement on a prostitution website and made an appointment for January 5. A “scantily dressed” woman opened the door when they arrived. They identified themselves as municipal inspectors and entered the home for inspection, according to the closure notice provided to NL Times.

The sex worker who opened the door told the inspectors that she had been in the Netherlands for 15 days. The inspectors found a second woman hiding behind a couch in the home. She said, among other things, that a customer had assaulted her a few days earlier because he wanted his money back.

The inspectors noted that the bedroom was furnished to “receive customers,” lit with red LED lights and with condoms and lubricant on a table. There was also a camera in the corner of the room. One of the two sex workers told the inspectors that the camera was always on: “Even when I sleep.”

According to the inspectors, the two women were in a text message group with two men and a woman who placed their ads and arranged their appointments. The sex workers paid them half of their income. The women told the inspectors that they put the money in an envelope in the letterbox every day, and someone whom they never spoke to came to collect it at different times.

The municipality closed the home for three months based on the General Local Ordinance and the zoning plan. “Because there were signs of human trafficking, the sex workers were transferred to the Amsterdam Coordination Point against Hunan Trafficking, where they were taken in,” the city said in a press release.

The police are investigating. So far, no arrests have been made.