The network of Romanian pimps, destroyed by police after dozens of searches in Romania and Switzerland. The victims, some pregnant, were brutally exploited
Police and prosecutors have destroyed a network of Romanian pimps and traffickers, who have acted, over the last seven years, on the territories of several European states. The victims were brutally exploited, some being set to prostitute themselves pregnant for customers who paid more for “such preferences”, the Romanian Police announced on Tuesday.
The searches, in number 21, took place in Bacău and Neamț counties. Simultaneously, in Switzerland, prosecutors of the Prosecutor's Office of the Zurich Canton carried out two home searches, “based on an agreement to set up a joint investigation team, concluded during July 2024, under the aegis of Eurojust”.
The accusations in the file aim at the crimes of setting up an organized criminal group, human trafficking, minor trafficking, pimping, unlawful freedom and money laundering.
“Criminal school”
According to investigators, the group operated for seven years on the territories of several European states and consisted of 24 Romanians, “members of an organized crime group specialized in sentimental assertion and sexual exploitation of women, through operating ways that involve the use of violence, alcohol abuse and drugs”.
“After acting, for a long time, in the UK, at the beginning of 2022, the members of the group would have continued their activity on the territory of Switzerland, in the cities of Zurich, St. Gallen and Lucerne,” says the Romanian Police.
Investigators talk about a true “criminal school” initiated by the group leader.
“The leader of the group, a 45 -year -old person, would have initiated a true” criminal school “, causing other people to adhere to the organized crime group, at the same time with the methodical training on complete assertion and efficient exploitation of female victims,” the authorities say.
The brutal way in which young people were exploited, some pregnant
The victims, “with a low level of education, coming from disadvantaged areas of Romania and from dysfunctional families”, were recruited through social networks, or by the “loverboy” method, or through direct proposals to practice prostitution in “advantageous conditions” abroad, in exchange for the transfer, to the persons investigated, to a 50% of the police,
“Subsequently, the victims would have been subjected to a brutal operating regime, with an exhausting daily program, dispossessed of income, unable to refuse unsafe customers or practices, some being determined to offer their sexual services in a visible pregnancy to access, with an extra profit, the niche of such preferences.”
Used as a “stake in gambling”
In several situations, the victims were “traded between the members of the group in exchange for money or used as a stake in gambling.”
“Also, in order to maximize the profit, the injured persons would have been obliged to deliver high -risk drugs (especially cocaine) to the clients, procured by the members of the organized criminal group,” the police say.
The hearings are held at the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism Offenses – Bacău Territorial Service. The investigations were carried out with the support of Europol and the Eurojust support.
