Police suspect Romanian woman was victim of human trafficking

Investigators say prostitution ring committed aggravated human trafficking

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Police in Helsinki have launched two investigations into possible human trafficking over events of the past summer. In the most recent case, the police suspect that a Romanian woman fell victim to aggravated human trafficking in July this year.
      Kari Tolvanen of the Helsinki police believe that the prostitution ring that was involved extended beyond the Helsinki region to different parts of Finland.
      “Extensive attempts at procurement took place in Finland. We are looking into how widespread it was.”
     
Tolvanen says that the victim in the latest case is fairly young, but is legally an adult. Police have a few suspects, who are also Romanian.
      Helsinki District Court ordered a 34-year-old man remanded in custody on suspicion of aggravated human trafficking. The crime is believed to have taken place between July 14th and July 22nd.
      Police have not managed to apprehend any other suspects.
      Kari Tolvanen will not yet say why police are treating the case as one of aggravated human trafficking and not aggravated procurement, for instance.
     
“The suspected crime seems to meet at least a couple of conditions of aggravated human trafficking. I cannot disclose any details at this point”, Tolvanen says.
      According to Finnish law, a pimp can be convicted of aggravated human trafficking if the victim has been beaten or threatened with harm, or caused significant suffering in other ways.
      Police are investigating how many women the suspected traffickers had working for them. Tolvanen says that the activity was not very widespread.
     
The violent crimes unit of the Helsinki police is currently investigating another suspected case of human trafficking, which is unrelated to the case of the Romanian woman.
      In the other case, police suspect two Estonian young men of human trafficking, but are not disclosing any information about the investigation.
      Helsinki District Court remanded the pair in custody on Thursday two weeks ago. One of them was remanded in absentia, because the police had not found him.
      The latter case apparently is linked with prostitution using the Internet. Police suspect that the criminal activity took place in July and August in Helsinki.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cases investigated as procurement in Finland could qualify is human trafficking elsewhere (1.8.2008)
  Police in Georgia accuse Turkey of indifference toward human trafficking (7.4.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat