Police bust prostitution ring

RIGA - A number of suspected criminals allegedly involved in an international ring that sent Baltic women to work as prostitutes to the United Kingdom are facing criminal charges in Latvia.

Representatives of the special prosecutor's office for organized crime told theBaltic News Servicethat the trafficking ring consisted of five Latvian residents and three Polish nationals, and had been sending women to foreign countries for prostitution since 2001.

So far charges have been brought against four men who had been working as security guards and two women, including one who has been tried for a similar offense in the past. The prosecution is also preparing to charge three Poles who are thought to be residing in England.

The investigation has established 11 counts of sending women to foreign countries for providing sex services. Nine women became victims of human trafficking.

The charges also include one count of human trafficking. A woman from Latvia had been offered a well-paid job in England, but when she arrived in there she was forced to work as a prostitute.

All the victims in the case are adult residents of Latvia, but investigators have found that the criminals have also been recruiting women in other countries of the former communist bloc, including Ukraine, Poland and Moldova.

When the women arrived in London, they were accommodated in flats where they had to provide sex services to the clients of the criminal gang. The women had to give up 75 percent of their earnings to their bosses.

One of the alleged leaders of the gang - a Pole - has been sentenced in Latvia in the past for sending people to foreign countries for prostitution.

Latvian police said they had been working on the case for one and a half years and had also seized illegal ammunition and explosives during the course of the probe.

Under Latvian law, the maximum punishment for the offenses is a jail term of up to 15-years.