Police rescued trafficked girls in Durban North Samantha Lee-Jacobs
Members of the Patriotic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal are demanding the release of four women who were rescued from a human trafficking syndicate this week.
The KZN leader of the Patriotic Alliance, Randall Adams, said they received a call from one of the girls’ parents, who told them that their daughters are still not safe.
Adams said one of the girls had called her mom in Gauteng from a social worker’s phone to say they are still not safe and need to be rescued urgently. Adams and other members of the Patriotic Alliance have been outside the alleged safe house since Friday evening at 10 pm.
On Wednesday police rescued the women, aged between 19 and 27, after they were lured from Johannesburg to Durban on a promise of a lucrative job opportunity.
The women alleged that one of them met a person in Johannesburg who told her about this job opportunity in Durban which would require her to work at a Call Centre where they would be selling sim cards to the elite in the society.
The women had boarded a bus paid for by their prospective employers from Johannesburg on Monday evening, and arrived in Durban on Tuesday morning.
They were picked up from the bus terminal and driven to a very luxurious house in Durban North.
They were later told that they were going to be involved in the sex trade business.
On Wednesday, police led an operation which resulted in the rescue of the four women and a case docket for human trafficking was opened and handed over to the Hawks for further investigation.
Adams, however, said since the women were rescued, they haven’t been given a chance to contact their parents.
He said the parents are also not aware of their daughters’ whereabouts, which concerns them a lot.
“We believe that they are being kept against their will. Otherwise why would they use a social worker’s cell phone to call their parents and let them know that they are not safe. This is the fourth day now and they must be released back to their own parents or be given an opportunity to make contact with their parents,” said Adams.
He said they have contacted the Hawks and the police about the concern raised by parents.