Nine persons, including foreigners and Moldovans, were arrested on suspicion that they practiced procuring and trafficking in persons. The police said these formed part of two criminal groups. Girls from Moldova aged between 18 and 29 were recruited to be sexually exploited in Dubai and Athens, IPN reports.

Prosecutor Vladimir Mosneaga told a news conference that there were arrested three members of the first criminal group – a citizen of Azerbaijan and two Moldovan young women who trafficked in persons for almost two years. When they were arrested, they intended to transport three girls to Dubai. The mother of the Azerbaijani citizen ran a brothel in Dubai.

Not all the victims knew that they were to prostitute themselves. The girls were lured with well-paid jobs. Investigators established that the girls were to have by 15 clients a day in Dubai. Of the US$ 100-120 paid by a client, the girls got almost US$ 20. The police estimate that the given group trafficked 7-8 girls from Moldova.

Lilian Levandovski, director of the Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons, said the second group consisted of six persons. This was led by a citizen of Romania and a Moldovan woman, who, in collusion with four Greek men, during almost a year recruited girls from Moldova through social networking sites and transported them to Athens to prostitute themselves. The victims reached Greece based on false Romanian passports.

During the arrest and searches, the police identified and released eight Moldovan girls from sexual slavery, stated Lilian Levandovski.

The arrested persons face up to ten years in jail.