A courageous woman has shared her harrowing abduction ordeal by a ruthless gang that planned to exploit her virginity and organs, and how she managed to escape the nightmare.
Lurata Lyon recounted how her virginity was traded to an overseas buyer, and she endured being held at gunpoint while witnessing other girls being sexually assaulted to learn “how to please a man.”
Now aged 45, Lurata’s horrifying journey began when she fled her Serbian hometown of Veliki Trnovac at 17 to escape the extreme violence in Yugoslavia during the 1990s. Following an invasion by an ethnic cleansing murder squad in her village, she journeyed to Kosovo in search of assistance from the Red Cross.
Rescued by two US soldiers, her safety was compromised when a local translator informed a human trafficking gang that then abducted her while she was innocently buying a magazine at a newsstand.
Blindfolded and taken to their hideout, she faced threats of rape until revealing her virgin status, which led the captors to see her as a valuable commodity.
Recalling the terrifying experience, Lurata remembered constant threats with a gun as she witnessed brutal assaults on unconscious women before being prepared for trafficking across borders.
While being transported towards the Albanian border under threat of violence, Lurata was coerced with an offer from the gang leader to avoid trafficking by becoming his companion, which she bravely refused.
In a moment of desperation, she found a way to escape her captors by unlocking a door and fleeing, facing physical harm but eventually being rescued by a UN police officer.
After surviving a second abduction by imposters posing as national army members, enduring abuse in captivity, and a daring escape orchestrated by her father, Lurata found refuge in the UK where she obtained citizenship.
Today, Lurata is a motivational speaker and public speaking coach, grateful for her survival and proud of her resilience despite enduring unimaginable trauma.