Helsinki police suspect prostitution ring of aggravated human trafficking
Mentally retarded Estonian woman allegedly tricked into prostitution
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Police in Helsinki are investigating what they believe to be a large prostitution ring, suspected of both aggravated procurement and aggravated human trafficking.
The case involves the first investigation into suspected trafficking in humans in Finland.
Police believe that the organisation, which they say has operated since the autumn, has had about ten apartments at its disposal. Most of these have been in different parts of Helsinki, but according to Seppo Sillanpää of the Helsinki police, who is heading the investigation into the matter, there were also apartments in Turku and Hämeenlinna.
Police say that women were recruited from Estonia, and worked as prostitutes for varying lengths of time. Customers were found mainly through the Internet.
Police suspect that the ring was led from Estonia. "We have been working together with the Estonian police", Sillanpää says.
The suspected case of aggravated human trafficking involves one victim. Sillanpää says that she is a mentally retarded young woman who was deceived into coming to Helsinki from Estonia for three weeks in January.
She was first promised work as a nanny in a family in Finland. Nevertheless, she found herself being sold to buyers of sex services in two Helsinki apartments.
The woman generated EUR 9,000 in income for the organisation, but got nothing herself. She was sent back to Estonia via Sweden after a missing persons report had been made.
The activities of the mentally retarded woman were monitored by other women. The other women were also under close supervision, but they told police that they had been working voluntarily, with full knowledge of what they were going to do, and at what price.
Three men - two Finns aged 33 and 38, and one Estonian - were remanded in custody last Saturday by Helsinki District Court on suspicion of aggravated procurement and aggravated human trafficking.
Sillanpää says that the operation in Finland was led by the Estonian. "The others were mainly errand boys", he said. The Estonian man reportedly has a record of similar crimes in Finland, and he has also been banned from entering the country.
The head investigator believes that there will be more arrests in the case. Sillanpää says that police had monitored the activities of the ring since last year. "We had to follow it for a while in order to accumulate evidence."
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 10.3.2006 - TODAY |
 Helsinki police suspect prostitution ring of aggravated human trafficking |
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