Russian, Armenian police prevent smuggling of prostitutes to Middle East

RIA news agency, Moscow
2 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian police have carried out
a joint operation to smash a criminal gang which recruited young girls
in Armenia and smuggled them via Moscow to the UAE for prostitution.

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev announced this to
journalists on Friday [2 July] after a meeting of the joint board of
the two ministries in the Armenian capital.

Nurgaliyev said the joint operation was carried out on 24 June
2004. “Our Armenian colleagues arrived in Moscow very quickly and we
carried out this operation very quickly,” Nurgaliyev said.

The Russian interior minister said the criminals brought the girls to
Moscow, provided them with documentation, after which they were sent
to the UAE for the purposes of prostitution.

“We freed six girls who were about to be sent abroad,” Nurgaliyev
said. He said this was a lucrative business. Members of the gang
received 2,000 dollars apiece for each girl.

“Altogether we have prevented about 100 girls being smuggled abroad,”
the minister said.

He also said two arrests had been made. The names of the arrested
persons have not been released. One of the detainees was responsible
for smuggling the girls through Moscow’s Domodedovo airport to foreign
destinations. The other hired the girls and found temporary
accommodation for them in flats.