Army and police officers hiding behind masks and carrying machine guns broke into a hotel at San Fernando and arrested 71 foreign women believed to be working there as prostitutes. The raid on a six-building complex of apartments and a club resembled that of a law enforcement operation against terrorists, witnesses said. The arrests came two weeks after 21 women were taken by police from the Villa Capri hotel. Three of those woman pleaded guilty in court to illegally entering Trinidad and confessed to being prostitutes working at the business. In a statement, the National Security Ministry said the arrests of the women-who are from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Suriname, Colombia, and Guyana-were part of the effort to combat human and drug trafficking into the country. Three women held at the hotel are locals and were released from police custody. Eleven days ago, the US State Department released its Trafficking in Persons 2007 Report, which named those four South American countries, among others, as being involved in the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. (See fact box) Police took no chances Saturday night. A helicopter with search lights hovered, as 100 officers from the Defence Force, Inter-Agency Task Force, Special Anti-Crime Unit, and Immigration Department, encircled the buildings. They brought three drug- sniffing dogs and were accompanied by British officers. Police took away stacks of documents relating to the women and the finances of the business. Customers tried jumping fences, and women screamed and yelled in Spanish as two buses and 20 unmarked SUVs and pick-up vans belonging to law enforcement pulled up at Elizabeth Street, Marabella, San Fernando at 9.15 p.m. More than 100 men were taken from the club, with hands behind their heads, and kept for two hours in the buses before they were set free. Police also questioned the hotel's owner Cecil Sydney, who is bedridden and lives on the compound with his wife and children. For seven hours, hooded police and immigration officers fingerprinted and photographed the women. Police searched the buildings, ransacked bedrooms and ordered the women to collect their travel documents and clothing. Surrounding streets were cordoned off, and residents kept indoors. Chief Immigration Officer Herman Brown, who oversaw the raids, said sex workers were entering Trinidad in record numbers. He said there was a greater effort now to protect the borders. He said the women will be charged with illegally entering Trinidad. On November 25, South American women were arrested at the Santa Maria Hotel, at Bagna Trace, Chase Village. They pleaded guilty to illegally entering Trinidad by fishing pirogue along Trinidad's gulf coast. They all said they were working as prostitutes. All were sent to prison and later deported. The women said they worked as prostitutes to support destitute families back home.
THE 71 foreign women arrested by police on the weekend at the Villa Capri Hotel in Marabella were tourists visiting family and students learning English, the hotel's owners said yesterday. A manager said none of the women from South America and the Dominican Republic were sex workers, nor were they debt slaves bought by hotelier Cecil Sydney. "The boss does not traffic in girls. He has no airline service or boats to bring them here. They come here for a room," said the employee, who was speaking on behalf of Sydney, on condition of anonymity. Yesterday, three South American women held at Villa Capri two weeks ago were fined $5000 for illegally entering the country. They told the court they were prostitutes. (See story below.) The Villa Capri manager said any sex on the compound was not sanctioned by management. "This is a hotel. The women meet men at the club. They can invite anyone back to their rooms, there are no restrictions. If that is prostitution then every hotel in Trinidad where men meet women are involved in prostitution," he said. The six-building complex at Elizabeth Street, Marabella, was stormed by police and army officers wearing masks Saturday night. Rooms were ransacked and the home of bedridden Cecil Sydney, his wife and one-year-old daughter was broken into with a battering ram. Police took away 71 women from the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Colombia, Venezuela and Suriname. Three men, reported to be from Zambia, China and Guyana, were also held. The manager said these men are not with the hotel. They are probably friends of the girls". He said the hotel and club could not reopen Sunday night because police officers took their licences to operate, lap top computers, documents listing the names of guests and financial records. He said the hotel had operated for 26 years and 12 workers were now jobless. He said several small businesses around the hotel would also be hit hard, including a pharmacy, grocery, fast food outlets and a money transfer business. He said on the night of the raid "these officers came in breaking into everything". "We had keys. They went in the boss's private house, with guns and take out his wife and baby. I was sleeping on a bed when I saw the guns come out. They had me kneeling. The girls got scared. They were running. All their belongings were thrown on the floor." The employee said the hotel had no legal obligation to the women "because they are tourists renting here and pay for their time, between $250 and $400 a room. We have no other affiliation. We offer food and we have a club in which they lime. They come to us asking to a place to stay". He said the drug sniffing dogs were unnecessary "because there are no guns or drug dealing here. The law disrespect's us". The manager said an attorney had been hired to represent the business, and that a damage estimate was being prepared.
