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Greek Police Break Up International Sex Trafficking Ring

Police raids in Greece's two largest cities on Thursday shut down a network trafficking in women for the sex trade in Greece and several other countries.

About 200 police officers raided houses and businesses in Athens and Thessaloniki in an operation overseen by the international police organizations Europol and Interpol. Thirty suspects were arrested — nine gang members and 21 associates, police said.

Thousands of women from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are forced into prostitution each year in Greece and other European countries under the pretext of helping them find jobs in the West. Police said in a statement that the police action had "broken up one of the biggest criminal gangs active in the sexual exploitation of immigrant women in our country."

Three victims of the ring — two Russians and a Romanian woman — were released in the operation. The gang operated in at least four European Union countries as well as several nations outside the EU.

The raid, which had been planned for a year, targeted 15 apartments, offices and other properties in the two cities. Police confiscated five cars used for transporting women along with mobile telephones, cash and around two dozen passports.

Police are seeking another 23 suspects, among them Greeks, Russians, Germans and a Turk.

Adapted from: "Greek police break up international sex trafficking ring." The Associated Press. 29 November 2007.