Swiss police help dismantle Romanian human trafficking ring

One of the exploited women, an 18-year-old, was killed by a client in Switzerland in 2016. Keystone / Dominic Favre

A joint investigation involving Swiss and Romanian police has led to the arrest of several members of a gang charged with exploiting young women for prostitution.  

The Romanian network was responsible for recruiting young women from Romania and forcing them into prostitution in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Lake Geneva. Most of them had also been forced into prostitution in other European countries (Italy, Germany and Norway). They were made to work seven days a week. One of them, an 18-year-old, was killed by a client in Switzerland in 2016. 

Eleven searches were carried out in Lausanne and Romania, which helped to identify nine perpetrators and 15 victims of human trafficking in the two countries, the news agency Keystone-SDA reported on Tuesday.  Four Romanians were arrested and European arrest warrants were subsequently issued for five other suspects, including the alleged leader of the network. The 35-year-old kingpin was finally arrested in the first half of this year in Germany and extradited in mid-August to Romania, according to Lausanne police.  

The assets of the trafficking network, adding up to several million Swiss francs and including five houses, were confiscated. All of the accused have been or will be brought before the Romanian courts.