BARCELONA: Spanish police have rescued a woman who was allegedly lured to Pakistan and forced into a marriage with a cousin before being brought back to Spain, authorities said on Saturday.
Catalonia’s regional police said two men, aged 41 and 45, were arrested at Barcelona airport on July 21 on suspicion of human trafficking linked to an alleged forced marriage.
According to police, the woman travelled to Pakistan in September 2025 after a relative allegedly told her that her family had reconsidered its opposition to her relationship with a Pakistani man who runs a computer business in Barcelona.
Police said that after her arrival in Pakistan, her Spanish passport was allegedly taken from her and she was confined to a family residence. Her relatives allegedly arranged her marriage to a cousin despite her refusal.
The woman’s partner alerted Spanish authorities in April, reporting that she had allegedly been taken to Pakistan against her will by members of her family. Police also linked two men allegedly involved in the case to an earlier attack on the partner in Barcelona involving a bladed weapon.
Spanish authorities, in coordination with the country’s embassy in Pakistan, traced the woman and arranged her safe return to Spain, where she was provided with specialised assistance.
The investigation is continuing as authorities seek to establish the full circumstances of the alleged forced marriage and identify others who may have been involved, including in the reported attack on the woman’s partner.
More than 26,000 Pakistani nationals are registered in Barcelona, according to the report, making the Pakistani community the city’s third-largest foreign nationality group after Italians and Colombians.
