Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
The police have brought charges against six people who, since 2013, are suspected of transporting at least 16 people from socially disadvantaged environments abroad and forcing them to beg there.
The police investigator accused Július K., Renáta K., Patrik K., Karol K. and Václav O., and another unidentified person in absentia of the particularly serious crime of human trafficking, the TASR newswire reported.
“The accused are facing seven to twelve years in prison,” said Police Corps Vice President Ľubomír Ábel, as quoted by TASR.
At least 16 people, including invalids, are said to have been forced to beg in Salzburg Austria, Olten Switzerland, and Berlin Germany.
“In most cases they were also beaten,” Ábel said, as quoted by TASR.
Each victim managed to make €100-300 daily by begging, which they had to surrender to the accused, leaving themselves with only minimal sums for food, according to the police.
The police took measures against the accused on January 5 in the Rimavská Sobota district. They carried out four house searches during which they seized several documents and papers. The total damage amounts to hundreds of thousands of euros, according to the police.
They are also checking whether any of the trafficked people died, TASR reported.
