Dozens of women forced into prostitution by Romanian gang

Dozens of women may have been forced into working as prostitutes in Amsterdam’s red light district by a Romanian gang, Dutch police confirmed on Friday.

The statement follows a joint Dutch and Romanian campaign against human trafficking in the area earlier this month. Seven men were arrested during a string of raids on July 14 – four in the Netherlands and three in Romania. All were Romanian nationals.

Shortly after the arrests, police issued a video interview with one of the victims speaking Romanian, which has led more women to come forward and has resulted in other information reaching the police, the statement said.

Police now say they have spoken to several victims and say they believe more women have been trafficked. They too are said to be Romanian.

The women were lured to Amsterdam with the promise of high earnings but found themselves forced into working in brothels and handing over their earnings to the gang. They were also forced to pay “rent” for their rooms.

None of the men had jobs but were big spenders, buying expensive clothes and cars and gambling heavily, the statement said. The gang also treated part of the red light district as their “personal kingdom”.

Four men remain in custody in the Netherlands, one of whom was extradited from Romania. Another man may also be extradited soon, RTL said. They are all suspected of human trafficking and forming a criminal organisation.

According to the Parool, two of the suspects are half brothers aged 44 and 45 who have earlier convictions for trafficking in women in Romania.

More arrests have not been ruled out.

A year ago, Dutch and Romanian police arrested 13 people in a joint investigation into human trafficking and the forced prostitution of Romanian women, mainly in and around Amsterdam.