North Bohemia

[Jrbott]

Police arrest 15 alleged operators of prostitution ring in north Bohemia

(PDM staff with CTK) 24 October - Police detained 15 people suspected of organising a prostitution ring during a raid in night clubs in north Bohemia on Friday, and accused them of procuring, trafficking in people and corrupting the morals of young energetic women, police spokeswoman Blanka Kosinova told CTK Sunday.

Two of the arrested persons were also charged with illegal business activities.

The prime suspects, the club owners, remain in a detention cell. The court will decide on their remanding in custody on Monday.

The police raid, in which some 100 policemen participated, started simultaneously in 19 clubs in the Liberec, Decin and Jablonec nad Nisou area, north Bohemia. Foreigner, border and financial police as well as trade licence office employees also participated in the raid.

Police made a series of house searches and will continue to question the accused and women who worked at the night clubs.

Detectives from the squad for uncovering organised crime have monitored the group of 15 alleged procurers for about a year. They registered 60 girls, including foreigners from Ukraine and Slovakia, who worked in the clubs as prostitutes. Seven of them only 18 years of age.

The procurers gained profits worth millions of crowns from their work.

Policemen said that the girls earned some CZK 30,000 a month on average, but received only a half of this sum. Clients paid CZK 2,200 an hour for the services of a prostitute.

Apart from the night club owners, bartenders, collecting money from the clients and paying wage to prostitutes, as well as taxi drivers are being prosecuted in the north Bohemian case without being taken into custody.

If found guilty, the accused persons face up to eight years in prison, Kosinova added.

(USD1=24.795 crowns)

http://www.praguemonitor.com/ctk/?i...erators-of-prostitution-ring-in-north-Bohemia