A St. Paul-based nonprofit organization has been working with trafficked women in the Somali community for several years.
Whether any of the victims it has helped are the same as the four described in a federal indictment against 29 people and unsealed Monday is confidential, said Linda Miller, executive director of Civil Society.
Abdirizak Bihi, who works with Civil Society, said he has tried to help about 20 trafficked women during the past 3 1/2 years.
But "we never knew how well-organized it was," Bihi said of the gang involvement described in the indictment.
The charges said three Somali gangs trafficked underage girls among the Twin Cities, Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn. The gangs identified, recruited and obtained girls — the youngest was 12 — to participate in sex acts in exchange for money and other items, the indictment said. They "use ... abuse, threats, force and coercion," it said.
On Tuesday, four of the defendants were in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. They all agreed to appear in federal court in Nashville, where the charges were filed. There were also hearings about whether they should remain in custody.
Dahir Mirreh Jibreel, director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis, attended court Tuesday and said outside the courtroom, "It's very clear why we say not guilty until proven guilty." He said the center wants to "make sure that everybody gets a fair trial" and also wants to support the victims.
Of the trafficking cases that Civil Society has worked on, Miller said one constant is "the fear factor."
"The victims, if they're from Somalia ... they will have experienced a government that has never been a government, so they have very great difficulty working with and understanding that there are agencies you can trust," she said.
Miller said she's also seen cases of victims severely beaten.
Another facet: "child bride trafficking," Miller said. "A child, probably 14 or younger, is brought to marry an old man." After a couple of years and bearing a couple of children, she runs away with her kids or the husband kicks them out, Miller said.
"They are on the streets, they're vulnerable," she said. "In those cases, the trafficker uses their visas over again. ... They almost always take a visa from the victim. It is a crime in of itself, and it's a hallmark of human trafficking. Even though the child is a refugee, if they don't have any documents, they are undocumented."
A trafficker taking a woman's identification is "the biggest control you can take," said Bihi, executive director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis.
Two of the gangs named in Monday's indictment are the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia.
Law enforcement documented them as gangs around 2006, said Minneapolis police officer Jeanine Brudenell, who is the department's liaison to the East African community and is familiar with Somali gangs. She provided general information about the two gangs.
The Somali Outlaws and Somali Mafia started in Minneapolis and have since branched out. The two gangs work together, with most members having dual membership, Brudenell said.
Unlike other gangs, they hadn't been "as heavily involved in narcotics," Brudenell said. "They have some activity around it now, but mostly it's surrounding their use of marijuana. Mainly their crimes have revolved around robberies, auto thefts and burglaries," she said.
Twenty-six of the 29 people indicted were arrested Monday. Three remained on the lam Tuesday, according to St. Paul police, who began the investigation in 2008.
One of those released from custody Monday was back in court Tuesday. Federal prosecutors appealed the order releasing Abdullahi Hashi, 24, and a federal judge in Tennessee stayed the release, ordering that he be taken into custody and transported to Tennessee, a prosecutor said in court.
U.S. Magistrate Franklin Noel ordered that Ahmad Abnulnasir Ahmad, 23, be held because he had prior convictions and had previously not shown up in court, causing bench warrants to be issued.
Noel said he would rule today on the detention of Abdullahi Sade Afyare, 19, who remains in custody. Afyare's sister testified that her brother is a St. Paul College student and comes from a "very close" family. She said she would guarantee that he would make court appearances.
Outside the courtroom, attorney Jean Brandl said she thinks the charges against her client, Afyare, are "blown way out of proportion.
"I think it makes good news to say it's a sex ring, but I just don't think that's what it is, as far as my client's concerned. ... It makes it sound like these kids are practically being kidnapped and dragged down to Tennessee, and that's just not what is happening, according to things that I've heard and seen."
Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.
Source: www.twincities.com
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