Interfax
July 2, 2004

Armenian police target sex slave trade

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Two people are under arrest following a joint
operation undertaken by Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian
police service, aimed at curbing the activities of criminal groups
involved in selling girls in Armenia into sex slavery in the United
Arab Emirates.

“After the abduction the girls were moved to Russia where documents
were made to move them to the United Arab Emirates to be exploited as
sex laborers,” Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told a news
conference in Yerevan on Friday.

Two Russian citizens have been arrested one of whom was in charge of
sending the girls on their way from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport and the
other rented “decent apartments” in Moscow where they were kept before
flying to their destination.

Nearly 100 cases of abduction have been documented, he said.

Asked about the so-called Armenian Mafia, Nurgaliyev said that it would
be wrong to believe that just one ethnic group is involved in criminal
activities. But he admitted Armenians are in command of about five
criminal mobs in Russia. The work aimed at stopping them is being
carried out with the aid of the Armenian police, he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress