Police charged two men from eastern Slovakia in a case of abduction of two young girls to the UK.
The girls, aged 17 and 22, allege they were kidnapped in front of the church in Sečovce last summer by two men, Barolomej Š. (aged 57) and Štefan B. (27), also from eastern Slovakia.
“Under the pretence of driving them home, the men brought girls to England, took the ID cards from them and sold them to two foreigners for prostitution,” Police Presidium spokeswoman Denisa Baloghová told the TASR newswire on February 27. “In spite of the disapproval and reluctance of the girls, under threats of violence and killing, the Slovaks abducted the girls and drove them to Manchester.”
After arriving to the UK, girls were stripped of the ID cards, and sold for 2,000 pounds to foreigners who forced them to prostitution. After two weeks, the girls managed to flee and report the case with the police. They have since returned home.
The two Slovaks charged with human trafficking are not being held as the judge did not agree with pre-trial custody, as proposed by the prosecutor. They face four to 10 years behind bars if convicted.
Last year, police charged 18 people with human trafficking with the profits amounting to more than 2 million euros – but the real numbers are supposed to be much higher, as victims usually fear to report this crime, both out of shame and out of fear for revenge.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
