On the initiative of the Dutch Police and with the operational support of Europol a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been set up against a criminal group involved in prostitution. Colleagues of the Belgian Police and the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation were cooperating in the JIT as well.
According to the foreign authorities the criminal group consisted of mainly Hungarian perpetrators who recruited women since 2012 from Hungary and forced them into prostitution in the red-light districts in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Based on the evidences victims were influenced, threatened, beaten and monitored by the perpetrators who determined where and when the victims have to work. The perpetrators took away the victim’s income and spent it for houses, vehicles.
In March 2014 the JIT carried out investigations in Belgium and in Hungary during which 10 persons were caught, house searches were conducted, luxurious vehicles, nearly 10 million HUF, small amount of drugs and jewellery have been arrested.
The Dutch police caught additional two suspects recently who were members of the criminal group too and forced Hungarian women into prostitution. Consequently – in the presence of Dutch and Belgian investigators – between7-9 October 2014 National Bureau of Investigation held house searches and pawn tickets, jewellery deriving from criminal activities have been arrested. The National Bureau of Investigation conducts investigation against other perpetrators suspected of committing crime.
(Hungarian Police Headquarters, Communication Department)