Criminals, forced Russian women into prostitution, arrested in Spain

Spanish police has arrested a criminal ring that forced into prostitution women from Russia lured there by a promise of a job. The group included two Russians, a German, a Pole and a Spaniard. They kept under guard three women from Kaliningrad in the resort town of Oropeza. The Russian women kidnapped by the bandits came to Spain in September 2000, after they were promised contract jobs in a bar. Instead they were forcibly driven to a roadside brothel and made prostitutes, with almost all their money from clients being taken away. On March 9, the women made a dash for freedom and escaped from the bordello, but the bandits caught them and demanded a "fine" of 21,000 dollars from their victims. One of the women managed to inform the police. The bandits were arrested and are awaiting trial, RIA Novosti announces. In Spain, the exploitation of women brought in from Latin American and East European countries for employment as prostitutes is becoming an increasingly serious problem. According to the UN, sex trafficking has become especially attractive for criminals because in profit rates it is only second to narcotics and arms running.