Senegal busts trafficking ring of women from Sierra Leone

Senegal's police have announced the dismantling of a major trafficking ring specialised in sending young women from Sierra Leone to the Middle East.

Eighty-seven Sierra Leonean women, plus two fellow nationals suspected of being the ringleaders, were arrested in Dakar after a nearly three-week undercover operation, the gendarmerie said in a statement late Wednesday.

The women had arrived in Senegal by road via Guinea, a trip of more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles), and had paid the traffickers between 350,000 and 400,000 CFA francs ($600-700 / 525 to 600 euros) each.

The gang planned to send them in smaller groups to clients in the Middle East with the help of local contacts, the statement said.

It did not say why the women were being smuggled, saying only that inquiries had uncovered "migrant trafficking".

Human smuggling is a major problem in West Africa, from where organised gangs ship young women to Europe or the Middle East to work as undocumented labourers or as prostitutes.