Behind closed doors, unsuspecting female customers are in for an unpleasant surprise. On a recent morning, Almudena M. The last to arrive was a man in his 70s who was forced to wait in line because the massage booths were all occupied.
The man sat in a pedicure chair and got his feet soaked while he waited his turn. There is no shortage of clients innocently getting their nails done, like Almudena. The premises are open from 10am to 10pm, Monday through Sunday, and there is a large influx of female clients, both local residents and tourists.
For the locals who live in the area, clandestine prostitution in these salons is an open secret, and many seem to take it in stride. For decades, they have lived alongside strip clubs and nightclubs operating as brothels. But for some clients of these newer establishments that operate as beauty parlors and hair salons β in the Leganitos area but also in other parts of Madrid β it comes as an unpleasant surprise.
Leganitos is a small Chinatown where supermarkets and Asian restaurants coexist with these clandestine businesses. At least five premises on this narrow, meter-long street are clandestine brothels that advertise themselves as manicure or massage parlors. The anti-human trafficking association Apramp suspects that the women in these salons may be victims of organized crime networks , but notes how difficult it is to prove it under current Spanish legislation.
To make arrests for trafficking, law enforcement needs proof that the women are being forced into prostitution. There is even a police station on the same street, Leganitos. There are precedents of police raids against these front businesses. In , 14 Chinese hair salons were shut down in Barcelona. Another 40 were closed in In Madrid, the police arrested two people in for forcing women recruited in Colombia into prostitution in apartments and hair salons. However, both premises have remained open and continue to carry out their clandestine activities.
