Arrested In Barcelona

A previously convicted sex offender was arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of being the armed robber and rapist of at least 3 prostitutes in Barcelona and Madrid.

Well actually the Spanish police and press seem to say he IS rather than the police and press in other countries  who would say he was arrested on suspicion of having committed the crime since he hasn't been found guilty yet. A minor academic point given that he was caught with false police ID, handcuffs and a gun on his way to meet a prostitute that had been lined up the same way as the other known victims. 

According to LaVanguardia he was meeting the women who worked privately from their homes via the internet, (Im guessing loquo.com as its the number 1 for this type of listing but there are many more) then when he turned up he would identify himself as a policeman, search them and take any money and valuables they had. Maybe the girls involved thought this was normal police "taxation". However he then proceeded to rape them.

I'm sure we all have our own ideas about what should happen to rapists although I think since the times of the inquisition Spanish judges haven't had access to rusty scissors. 

This tragic case may be isolated or it could be one of the few that these girls are willing to report to police to allow them to investigate. It is tragic and these things shouldn't happen. Sadly it's proof again of how if prostitution is forced underground then crimes like this can occure more easily - women working outside of the law have to think hard before going to the police. Also something like this is virtually impossible within the confines of a registered club where the girls are always in company and where the police can be called without fear.  

Lets hope this guy get what he deserves.

Chinese Brothel at Aragon 429 In Armed Robbery

For a few years theres been a Chinese brothel at Aragon 429 in Barcelona. Everybody who watches or participates in the brothel scene in Barcelona knows about it with dozens o adverts in Loquo, LaVanguardia, El Pais etc, forum entries and so on, just google for the address Arago 429 (Català) or Aragon 429 (Spanish).

We say Chinese but in their adverts they often say oriental, it sounds a bit more exotic from a marketing perspective, similar to being served under cooked fish in a sea food restaurant and upon complaining being told its Sushi.

Anyway, despite having been raided at least once by the police and immigration officials(along with Consell de Cent 477, Gran Via 665,  Paral·lel 169, Muntaner 10, Sepúlveda 36, València 305,  Campo Florido 19, avenida Gaudí 66, Nàpols 206 and Rocafort 124.) this place, typical of so many similar "oriental" brothels in Barcelona stays open, it stays operating yet stays in that gray area of legality. Its not licensed, its not regulated and apart from the odd police raid theres nothing Ive seen or read to suggest that the girls in there are happily working with all of their papers in order. 

Anyone could guess at the odds of the owners declaring VAT or IVA on their income, we can only imagine if the operators pay taxes and if it turned out that the girls were'nt properly contracted then obviously social security wouldnt come into it. Far be it from me to suggest without documentary proof that the girls are working non too happily for some Chinese gangster but lets face it, they wouldnt be wanting to invite the local bobby on the beat in for cup of tea either.

So when a gang of Romanian armed robbers need places to rob where theres stacks of cash and little chance of the police being called in a hurry why not head for the illegal brothels? You cant get caught if theyre not looking for you and they cant look for you if its not reported. Its simply a consequence of these places being off the legal radar.

The whole affair is quite tragic, the reports dont mention injuries inside the whorehouse (could be theyre not wanting to speak to the police or they all disappeared before more police arrived) but two police were shot. The reporter at LaVanguardia suggests that this is one of many robberies which only came to light due to the neighbours calling the police.

So assuming your an illegal brothel owner wouldnt it be worth investing in a gun to defend yourself and hey, lets just shoot it out if anyone turns up?  Crime breads crime.

Lets look at the legal places or a moment to see the point I'm making here. If you're a legal and licensed club you would (in Barcelona at least) have a panic button/silent alarm to the police which would be common knowledge, making it a lot riskier to try and rob. Plus the (unconfirmed) issue of police visiting for their off duty inspections.

My point again on this blog is simple, legalise brothels, not to promote prostitution but to protect the girls and to take a few billion a year out of the black economy which encourages auxiliary crime and trafficking. Get the punters paying the cash in legal places where the girls are legal and hit the traffickers in the pocket.

Riviera and Saratoga Clubs to stay closed

...well for the moment anyway.

The female judge in charge of the case of these two macro-clubs where 50-200 girls would be working around the clock has extended the 6 month closure order against them for another 6 month. This is unusual in Spain given that prostitution isnt illegal, although the clubs were described as "tools for crime" where the crime was described as the exploitation of women.

Observers dont believe that this is the start of a crusade against clubs in Spain. Its simply that there was police corruption involved, one high ranking officer called "Jordi" took 3000 euros (allegedly) in a sting operation set up by the police themselves after the clubs complained of extortion by the certain bad apples in Spain's normally un-corruptable (allegedly) police force. The 3000 euros later went missing which was quite convenient as some lucky soul gained 3 grand in cash and evidence was suddenly lacking. Please feel free to apply your imagination at any point here.

So anyway, the famous Riviera is now closed due to a police corruption case, where as in the past the discovery of class A drugs, trafficked women and firearms was obviously not seen as serious enough to warrant an interruption to the oldest industry in Spain.

Now to fill the void of these two clubs prostitutes have now appeared en-mass en the streets and motorways of Casteldefells where they could be picked up and never seen again or simply annoy the neighbours. Due to the case of the latter the council now has introduced 3000 euro fines for soliciting and kerb crawling. Wouldn't it be better if they were working in a club?

The fact these two clubs have been closed in such a way simply adds support to my personal belief that here in Spain at least clubs should be fully legalized. Had the same business have been conducted from within private apartments via adverts in LaVanguardia using pay-as-you-throw mobile phones then inspecting the places would have become a huge task as they could have relocated every few months.

A classic example is a club in Calle Alcalde Porqueres, Lerida/Leida in Catalunya where 6 trafficked Russian girls were found working. Whether it was against their wishes or not I dont know but since it was a regular club at street level, open to the public the authorities were able to pass by and inspect the place whenever they wished, including last week when the girls were found. Again, had that club have been made illegal then those girls would have been working in an apartment, un-marked and they'd never have been found by the inspection. I rest my case!

*please note these are my interpretations of events from sources ranging from daily newspapers to forums. I have never actually seen the Police reports into criminal activities in Riviera and Saratoga and we have to assume their owners are innocent until proven guilty in the same way that the Police chief in question "Jordi" is not guilty of loosing a 3000 euro bung until proven guilty in court.

 

Clampdown on Street Walkers on the Ramblas (Barcelona)

About a week ago there were various reports from the local Adjuntamiento (town hall) in Barcelona about the political hot potato of prostitution on the Ramblas and how it should be handled. Obviously someone had made a bit of noise and now some poor overworked politician would have to drag his heels and be seen to do something.

Being the mega tourist destination that it is, Barcelona is worried that falling tourist numbers will soon hit the economy, whilst the whole game plan of Barcelona Tourism is switching to higher end tourism, looking to bury the drunken hen nights, the boisterous stag weekends and the sex tourism in the past.

So a few days ago there was a clamp down in certain high profile areas of the Ramblas in front of lots of cameras to show that they (local police and Adjuntamiento) are clamping down on the hookers. Well some of them. In a few places. Whilst the others around the corner carry on unhindered. And maybe tomorrow they continue in front of the police station as usual when the cameras have gone. Initially they appear to have moved to Glorias , Rambla de Catalunya and Diputacion for the moment so nothing has really been acheived and things just become harder to monitor.

Well anyway, they got some airtime and lots of column inches in the local press to show their dedication to cleaning up the Ramblas. I have no doubt there will be any reduction in street level prostitution around the Ramblas and yet again the powers that be fail to address the real issues and cash their chips in for a photo opportunity. 

Speaking of photo opportunities, a few punters have recently gained their 15 minutes of fame. See any faces (or body parts) that you recognize?

El Pais

Have you seen the whorehouse map for Barcelona yet?

Click here for the map of approx 100 knocking shops in barcelona.

Bookmark it on a PDA, Iphone, Blackberry etc and you can call up directions really easily as you're walking around town.

More cities later!

Find Whorehouses in Spain More Easily

Well after a long wait and lots of hard work from a few good friends we now have www.whichwhorehouse.com on a new server and a huge amout of code has been rewritten. You probably wont notice any difference but it now runs a lot smoother and now we can add new locations quicker, visitors can add locations easier and the reviews are much improved.

The only snag is that the URLs have changed a little so any bookmarks you have might not work and we guess that for a month the links that come up in google will be out of date :( nevermind, youll still hit the locations page, no big deal.

Click here for whorehouses and brothels in Barcelona, we have about 100 listed!

Click here to see the 70 or so brothels and whorehouses we have listed in Madrid.

Click here for the 20 or 30 brothels, whorehouses and massage parlours we know of in Valencia.

Terrassa has about 15 brothels we know of, click here to see them.

Sabadell brothels, whorehouses and puticlubs are listed here.

We need a hand finding more brothels in Bilbao, click here to see what we have already.

Zaragoza must have more brothels than we know about, if you find them let us know.

In general we need the locations of any whorehouses you find. Clicking through to our 'contribute' page lets you submit any details. Yes it makes you put an email and password in but thats just to stop the idiots and the bots from submitting junk. We would never dream of sending spam to your email and at the moment you dont even receive a confirmation email which leaves your inbox a bit lighter.

Any feedback on the page, submitting locations or writing reviews just pop us an email.

How to find CallGirls and Escorts in Spain

Well we've finally got the new Which CallGirl site up!

Currently we just have Escorts in Barcelona, Madrid and Lleida listed, and not too many either but now we're live we can start to bring more girls in.

The great thing about calling private escorts is that theres more chance of them genuinely being independant and not being exploited. Lets face it, if exploited girls are physically locked within some illegal brothel its because they would try and escape. Sending them out wouldnt be an option. Also the risk of other forms of exploitation are reduced when theyre not 'performing' under the watchful eye of a pimp.

We cant guarentee that 100% of the girls we will be listing are not being exploited in some way, thats never going to be possible, sadly. However if anyone suspects that theres something strange going on simply email us and we can check it out and either remove their listing or inform the authorities. However if the girls really are working for themselves then you can be sure that theyre earning a heck of a lot more than if they were in a club and presumably this would reflect in their service.

Surely must be better to pay a girl who has made the decision to work for herself than risk paying a pimp (or club owner) who has made the decision that the girl will work for him and his benefit? Not a foolproof way of taking your money away from the traffickers and heavy handed pimps but at least a step in the right direction!

www.WhichCallGirl.com

For Escorts and CallGirls in Barcelona go straight to the Barcelona page.

For Hookers and Prostitutes in Madrid go straight to the Madrid listings. 

For Masseuses and Models in Lerida, go straight to the Lleida directory.

Good luck!