Police bust sex trafficking ring that brought women to Israel
Police have busted a suspected sex trafficking ring that
allegedly brought women from abroad to Israel for prostitution, arresting eight
suspects Monday morning including a female former Israeli athlete.
The crime ring made contact with the women via
Russian-language online advertisements before bringing them to Israel to work
as prostitutes, police said in a statement. In the country, it allegedly
arranged their living situations and ferried them from customer to customer at
a number of “discreet houses” masquerading as massage services.
Police said that the ring, which they claim has been
operational for “a number of years,” was run by a 51-year-old woman from the
central city of Ramat Gan. The Ynet news site reported that she is a former
Israeli athlete who has competed for Israel on an international level and,
after retiring from competition, worked as a trainer.
Her husband was also arrested along with five other women
and another man, the police statement added.
The group is also suspected of a slew of tax offenses
including money laundering.
Pimping, sex trafficking, and running a brothel are
punishable under existing Israeli law. In December 2018 the Knesset approved a
law that also punishes johns caught hiring sex workers.
The law criminalizes procuring the services of a prostitute,
as well as presence in a location chiefly used for prostitution, such as a
brothel. First-time offenders are fined NIS 2,000 ($530), with the sum doubled
for repeat offenses within three years.
In 2016, the Welfare Ministry estimated there were
11,420-12,730 sex workers driving the country’s NIS 1.2 billion ($318 million)
industry. According to that report, 71 percent of prostitutes said they began
sex work out of financial desperation, and 76% said they would leave the
industry if they could.
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