At today's press conference at the Ljubljana Police Directorate, Tomaž Peršolja, Criminal Police Directorate, General Police Directorate, and Branko Japelj, Head of the Criminal Police Directorate, Ljubljana PD, presented the operation and results obtained in a successful criminal investigation into criminal offences of human trafficking and abuse of prostitution.
The vast criminal investigation lasted seven months, and 60 criminal police investigators and police officers from three police directorates participated in the final operation.
On the grounds of reasonable suspicion of commission of offences related to human traffickings (based on Article 387a of the Penal Code of the RS) and abuse of prostitution (Article 185 of the PC), on 18 June 2008 the Police, on the basis of the previously obtained search warrants issued by the court, performed several house searches within the extended territories of Ljubljana, Celje and Krško. In compliance with the Criminal Procedure Act, several persons were deprived of liberty and detention was ordered.
More on the criminal investigation:
Last December, criminal investigators of the Criminal Police Directorate at the Ljubljana PD started collecting reports on suspected criminal offences of abuse of prostitution according to Article 185/I and II of the Penal Code. They discovered that a night club in the vicinity of Litija was employing a number of Ukrainian female citizens, who, apart from artistic dancing offered interested guests sexual services in exchange for money.
According to the collected reports, reasonable suspicion existed that the night club, managed by a man (37) from Celje and his wife (35), a citizen of Ukraine, apart from the abuse of prostitution, also committed the criminal offence of human trafficking according to Article 387a of the PC. By means of individual undercover operations it was discovered that the night club employed 6 to 8 girls in shifts. Sexual services were offered by one or two of the girls, who joined a guest at a table, and he had to order a cocktail or champagne. The girls then explicitly started to offer their sexual services to the guest. If he agreed, the "selected" girl obtained a room key at the bar from the owner of the night club. Half an hour of sexual service cost 30 EUR, whereas one hour cost 100 EUR. The girls had to hand over 60% of the earned money to the owner of the night club. They were also paid from the number of cocktails or glasses of champagne ordered for them by the guest - for each ordered drink they earned 20%. The dancing and sexual services had to be offered on a daily basis from 8 pm until 4 am. During the day they had obligatory rest periods in the rooms directly above the night club where they stayed, and were only allowed to go out by permission of the owner or his wife.
The inspection of the employment documents by the Police revealed that the girls were employed by a company owned by a 54-year-old man from the Celja area. The man also owns a night club, where artistic dancing and sexual services are offered. It was further estimated that the 37-year-old wife of the owner of the night club in Litija lured girls into Slovenia via her Ukrainian connections. A sample contract of employment was sent to the girls in advance, and if they agreed, they received a definite sum of money through the Western Union Money Transfer payment system. The money was intended to cover the expenses of obtaining a passport, plane ticket, visa and any other travel expenses. The company from the Celje area provided the entry visas and work permits. On arrival at the airport, the girls were greeted by the owners of the night club in Litija, who then drove them there, where they were compelled to offer sexual services immediately that night. The social situation of the girls who decided to work in Slovenia was poor, so they were forced to find work abroad if they wanted to support their children, and, in the majority of cases, their parents as well. The costs incurred during the process of travelling, acquiring entry visas, work permits and accommodation costs were deducted from their "income" by the night club. Despite the fact that a major share of their earnings was taken away by the owners of the night club, the girls earned from EUR 1,000 to 1,500 per month, while the owner of the night club earned at least three times as much.
During the compilation of data related to the company from the Celje area which belongs to the 54-year-old man, his possession of another night club in the same area was registered. This night club also employed several girls from Ukraine, the Dominican Republic and Thailand. The Ukrainians underwent a similar procedure of entry into Slovenia as the girls from Litija, and all travel and work arrangements for the Dominican and Thai girls were conducted by a 41-year-old man from the Radeče area via his company, registered in Brežice. The methods of approach in the Celje night club were comparable to those in Litija. Both of the above entrepreneurs supplied at least 20 more night clubs in Slovenia with "working girls". If a girl (dancer) did not behave in accordance with the internal rules of conduct within a night club, she was transferred to another similar location for punishment. Some of the girls escaped from the night clubs due to the unbearable conditions and psychological pressures.
On the night of 18 June 2008, on the basis of warrants issued by the court, the criminal investigators conducted house searches, during which six of the suspected persons were deprived of liberty. These are as follows: the aforementioned 37- and 35-year-old owners of the night club in Litija, the 54-year-old entrepreneur from Celje, the 41-year-oldold man from the Radeče area and a 52-year-old waiter employed at the Celje night club, and the 37-year-old citizen of Ukraine who recruited Ukrainian girls to work in Slovenia.
In the house searches conducted by the criminal investigators, altogether 15 girls were found (7 in Litija and 8 in Celje) and ample documentation was seized. EUR 15,000, obtained through prostitution, was also seized in the course of the house searches. In Brežice, approximately 150 passports belonging to citizens of the Dominican Republic were seized from the possession of the entrepreneur who conducted travel and work arrangements for the girls via his handlers in the Dominican Republic. Within the framework of the searches in the night clubs, a gun was seized in Litija and a conspicuous amount of ammunition in Brežice.
On the grounds of reasonable suspicion of commission of eight criminal offences of human trafficking according to Article 387a of the Penal Code and of commission of two criminal offences of abuse of prostitution according to Article 185 of the PC, the suspects were produced at the hearing conducted by the investigating judge at the Ljubljana District Court. He ordered custody of the aforementioned 37- and 35-year-old owners of the night club in Litija, the 54-year-old entrepreneur from Celje and of the 37-year-old citizen of Ukraine, whereas two other suspects were released.
The penalty to be imposed on criminal offences of the abuse of prostitution according to Article 185 of the Penal Code ranges from three months to five years, or from one year to ten years. The penalty to be imposed on criminal offences of human trafficking according to Article 387a of the PC ranges from one to ten years.