The Hawks’ Eastern Cape Trafficking in Persons Task Team has reunited a 22-year-old woman with her family in King William’s Town yesterday after she was rescued from alleged traffickers in Gauteng.
The young woman who is a qualified beauty therapist saw an advert on the internet which sought to employ a beauty therapist to work at a beauty parlour in the foreign country. She applied for the post and was immediately requested to travel to Gauteng from East London. On her arrival travelling, she was advised that she will be travelling to Africa on Thursday.
The mother of the victim raised the alarm after she got suspicious about the entire trip. It was found she had no work permit and was only allowed to visit the country for 1 month yet according to her prospective employer she was to work there for 6 months. She contacted the Hawks in East London who contacted Interpol in order to establish the legitimacy of this beauty parlour.
Investigations revealed that the beauty parlour was, in fact, a restaurant. The task team members travelled to Johannesburg and managed to rescue the victim at the Johannesburg International airport as she was about to board a flight to the foreign African country.