It was the second time that day that she had escaped from her pimp. Tuesday around 6:30 p.m., an 18-year-old girl who had left the man who prostituted her found refuge at the La Courneuve police station (Seine-Saint-Denis). To the police, she allegedly explained that she was engaging in prostitution against her will “in apartments located in the Villemomble area, rented via the Airbnb platform,” indicates a source close to the case. An unfortunately proven pattern. Short-term rentals have become very popular with pimping networks.
Living in the provinces, she fell into the clutches of an individual a month earlier, thanks to exchanges on Snapchat. Then she would have joined him in the Paris region. But when she arrived in Seine-Saint-Denis, the trap closed on her. She told the police that she was immediately sequestered in rentals and forced into paid relationships. She was even threatened with a knife. She also explained that she was allegedly forced to consume drugs.
To put an end to her ordeal, she would have taken advantage of one of her rare outings outside her place of prostitution to leave the pimp company. This Tuesday evening, still according to her explanations, she had to “pick up a customer” at the bottom of the building. Instead, she used this rare moment of freedom to go off on a tangent. Believing she was safe, she took shelter “in a business in Bondy”, but her jailer managed to find her.
Taken by force into her car, she took advantage of “a stop at a red light to escape again,” adds the same source. This time she managed to lose her pursuer. Then she wandered for a while to the La Courneuve police station where she told everything. Her pimp is actively sought.
Since Airbnb rentals have been diverted from their initial use, the platform has indicated that it has been working closely with law enforcement and the interministerial mission for the protection of women against violence and the fight against human trafficking. On the other hand, the owner of the property rented in this context must also be very vigilant: he can be prosecuted for pimping for having benefited indirectly from the income from prostitution.
