Forced Labor2011
Sweden SE
Police in Gothenburg have detained three men on suspicion of trafficking Romanian women into Sweden for sexual exploitation. The men are under suspicion for trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and aggravated pimping. The men were brought in after a raid on several locations in the greater Gothenburg area carried out by the county police’s special unit for serious organised crime. The sex crimes have mainly been carried out in the Rosenlund area of the city, which is generally associated with street prostitution. The police operation was launched as a result of lengthy surveillance investigations and according to the prosecutor there are at least ten women that have been exploited by the men. The police declined to speculate on how the investigation would develop but on Wednesday said that they do not rule out further arrests. So far this year, the police have reported 170 incidents of sex purchasing in Gothenburg.
Forced Labor2010
Sweden SE
Two 25 yrs old men from Romania lured two 16 year old children from Gugesti, a village in Romania to come to Sweden where they would get good jobs. In order to legally get the boys out of the nation, the parents signed a consent form. The form requires an address where the children will be living. The traffickers provided a fraudulent address (in fact, the address is to a prison in Finland!). As soon as the boys arrived in Sweden they were forced to steal to provide money for the men. They stole a car, food and telephones during their first two months. At least of the boys was beaten.
Forced Labor2010
Sweden SE
Vasiliea Alamaru, born 1987-01-64 and Elvis Carp, born 1988-02-01, both citizens of Romania, “recruited” two children of 16 and 17 years old in Guesti, Romania. The were promised work in Sweden, but instead the minors were forced to carry out crimes such as stealing at big markets. A few hours after arriving in Sweden the two boys stole a car. During their two first months in Sweden they were arrested by the police in Södertälje, Mjölby, Linköping and Solna for stealing food and electronic equipment. When stealing in Solna one of the boys was abused and bettered in the head. The boys had no money or clothes and was moved between various locations. In order to travel out of Romania with the boys, the older men had persuaded both sets of parents to sign a power of attorney. The document outlined a visiting address that they were led to believe would be the boys new home in Sweden but instead turned out to be the address of a Finnish prison. One of the convicted men had sent home 10 000 kronor (approximately 1600 US dollars), to his dependents in Romania, through Western Union.