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One of those arrested was Razvan Nedelea, 35, who is charged with organised crime and prostitution offences.<\/p>\n
He and nine others face up to seven years in a Romanian prison.<\/p>\n
The group came to Scotland in 2015 and exploited their victims in three properties in Dennistoun.<\/p>\n
The bosses allegedly sold the women through escort agencies and dictated every detail down to the number of punters, how much they were charged and where and when they would\u2028 be seen.<\/p>\n
A police spokesman in Romania said: \u201cThe men were part of an \u2028organised group which had several members, all Romanian nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were trafficking women from Romania to Scotland with the purpose of sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe women worked as prostitutes in Scotland, mainly in flats rented by the criminal group members, who controlled them and collected the money they made.\u201d<\/p>\n
The women were brought to Glasgow from poverty-stricken Prahova county, in central Romania, it is alleged.<\/p>\n
Nedelea comes from Ploiesti the capital of Prahova county, which has been the focus of a major crackdown on organised crime and sex trafficking in the last year.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Romania\u2019s Organised Crime Brigade of Ploiesti and Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) launched an investigation into the gang at the beginning of 2016 and traced their network from Romania to Scotland.<\/p>\n
In an operation codenamed Arcero, the Romanian authorities called in the EU law enforcement agency Europol, the cross-border justice organisation Eurojust and Police Scotland.<\/p>\n
In April last year, they raided flats in Glasgow\u2019s Craigpark Drive, \u2028Hanson Park and Sword Street and freed 10 women.<\/p>\n
They also seized cash, mobile phones and other valuable items from the gang.<\/p>\n
A Romanian police spokesman said: \u201cThe members of the group were \u2028operating in Scotland because they earned more money from prostitution than in Romania.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, they thought that by operating in Scotland, the Romanian authorities won\u2019t be able to investigate them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August last year, early morning raids were carried out in Ploiesti targeting the group of men allegedly involved in the trafficking of women into the UK for sex.<\/p>\n
More than 40 potential victims of human trafficking were interviewed following the raid.<\/p>\n
It is believed Nedelea moved to London from Romania in 2014 and came to Scotland as part of the network in 2015.<\/p>\n
He lived the high life with a \u2028glamorous girlfriend and trips to Amsterdam, where he smoked \u2028marijuana and partied in nightclubs.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Europol said: \u201cAs a result of joint operational activities, Police Scotland and Romanian national police and DIICOT, supported by Europol and Eurojust, have dismantled a Romanian organised criminal network involved in trafficking of \u2028Romanian victims exploited in the sex market in Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Romanian police spokesman said: \u201cWe identified around 10 suspects as part of the criminal group that have exploited 10 women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case was successful due to a very good cooperation between \u2028Romanian and Scottish law enforcement authorities and to the \u2028operational support provided by Europol and Eurojust.\u201d<\/p>\n
The number of trafficking victims identified and rescued in Scotland rose by 46 per cent in the two years up to 2015.<\/p>\n
Last week, four men were arrested in Slovakia as part of an investigation into human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Five people were arrested in Glasgow the week before as part of the same inquiry.<\/p>\n
The operation, involving officers from Police Scotland, Slovakian police and Europol, has so far uncovered 16 potential victims.<\/p>\n
Three of the victims were found after searches of properties in the Govanhill area of Glasgow on February 9.<\/p>\n
The suspects in that case, aged 40, 30, 26 and 23, have appeared in court in Slovakia.<\/p>\n
Detective Inspector Stevie McMillan said: \u201cThis forms part of what is still very much a live and ongoing inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to work with other law enforcement agencies, both in the UK and across Europe, to ensure anyone else who has been involved in this crime will be brought to justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a significant development to ensure the individuals involved in this crime group cannot inflict the same misery and suffering upon other vulnerable victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Men behind the women\u2019s alleged exploitation are facing jail in their home country after ‘hiring out prostitutes in Glasgow lured from poverty blackspots in Romania’ A Romanian group of men accused of selling trafficked women from their homeland as sex slaves in Britain allegedly made \u00a3500,000 in only a year. The victims were allegedly hired …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n