The boss of Peach Blossom Palace is spotted in Ghana’s most expensive casino, wearing Gucci shades, a golden brown Emperio Amani tuxedo and a custom-made Rolex wrist watch. Scores of raunchy mini-skirted Chinese girls fill up his glass with exotic French champagne. He spins his cozy swivel chair in sensuous delirium as the ladies’ dainty fingers caress his neck, back and shoulders to orthopedic effect. “Ha,ha ha!” he lets out another loud peal of frenzied laughter. There is no doubt that this imposing figure is a successful man. No doubt at all that his prosperity comes from hot sweat. What is not immediately evident though is the fact that the sweat that rakes in his millions does not flow from his own pores but from the disreputable chores of hapless naïve lasses he had made whores on the shores of West Africa; the fact that he presides over an evil empire that traffics his own Chinese compatriots, engaging them in sex slavery, not only here in Ghana, but also in Nigeria and Togo. There is no doubt that this impressive figure is a successful man. His appearance likewise leaves little doubt that his prosperity comes from brisk business. What is not immediately evident is the fact that he rakes in millions that flow not from his own pores, but from the bloody chores of hapless, naïve lasses he has made whores on the shores of West Africa. He presides over an evil empire, which traffics his Chinese compatriots, engaging them in sex slavery, not only here in Ghana, but also in Nigeria and Togo. The non-African expatriate community is the clientele. Peach Blossom Palace is the wholesale outlet from where the “goods” are marketed and sold. Poor, innocent and vulnerable Chinese girls, some as young as 19, are the human commodity on sale paraded in front of the clients like pieces of meat in a butcher shop window. They are lured here with promises of honest, well-paid jobs, only to have their passports and return tickets confiscated. The travel documents may be recovered, but only after one had paid off the cost – invariably inflated - of the trip to Accra. They are beaten and threatened with a high debt to be repaid only through the sale of their bodies. They are thrown into debt bondage and forced to sell their innocence and human dignity for their master’s gain in nightclubs and casinos. ‘I was told that I was going to be waitressing in a Chinese restaurant, but it however turned into nightmare. There was no way of turning back and I resorted to this dehumanizing business’ said one of the girls. Any of this trafficker’s victims, who attempt anything akin to disobedience, not to talk of rebellion, is firmly, swiftly and brutally repressed. Six months of backbreaking investigation yielded the above discovery on the nefarious activities of King James, the man at the centre of the sex trafficking ring. Posing as a bartender in the hotels where this sordid business is carried out, “The New Crusading Guide” reporter managed to capture every aspect of this trade with a hidden camera. He also pretended to befriend a lady who lived in the brothel and from whom, over a period of four months, he obtained valuable, first-hand accounts of the activities of King James and his colleagues. All of the above described is captured on video. It was upon the presentation of this evidence that the Police CID planned and carried out a raid on the Peach Blossom Palace in Labadi,Accra. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000) serves as the international legal standard. It outlines the definition of human trafficking in Article 3 (a): “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, with total annual revenue for trafficking in persons estimated to be between $5 billion and $9 billion. The Council of Europe states that “people trafficking has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion” Enslavement Prevention Alliance – West Africa, an NGO that has provided the victims with post-rescue care, stated that: “The ruthless criminals behind the sexual exploitation of these vulnerable women should feel the full hand of the Ghanaian law. This would not only serve to provide the victims with justice, it would also serve as a deterrent to all those who wish to perpetrate similar crimes in Ghana. Swift prosecution of this case will send a clear message that the business of sexual slavery is not welcome here.”