In Lviv, law enforcement officers detained a 32-year-old resident of Zhytomyr region, who is suspected of organising a transnational human trafficking scheme and the sexual exploitation of women. This was reported by the Lviv Region Police.
According to the investigation, the suspect was seeking out and recruiting young women from Lviv and Lviv region, including internally displaced persons and single mothers who were in a vulnerable situation. She organised their travel to the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Moldova for subsequent sexual exploitation.
Law enforcement officers established that the woman involved in the case was finding premises for the provision of sexual services, answering calls and corresponding with “clients”, determining the cost of such services, monitoring the women’s activities, distributing the money received, as well as posting advertisements and profiles on websites.
The perpetrator was exposed by operatives of the Migration Police Department in Lviv Region together with investigators from the department for the investigation of particularly serious crimes of the Lviv Regional Police and operatives from the department for combating cross-border crime of the main operational and investigative unit of the 7th Carpathian Border Detachment of the State Border Guard Service, under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
On 29 May, law enforcement officers detained the woman under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. During authorised searches at her place of residence and in her car, they seized mobile phones, rough notes, SIM cards of Ukrainian and foreign operators, as well as other physical evidence of involvement in unlawful activities.
Investigators notified the detainee that she is suspected under Part 1 of Article 149 (human trafficking) and Parts 1 and 2 of Article 303 (pimping or involving a person in prostitution) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The maximum penalty provided for by the sanctions of these articles is up to eight years’ imprisonment. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, and the court has chosen a preventive measure for the suspect in the form of remand in custody with the possibility of bail.