About $1.6 million in cash was seized during raids in Belgium targeting an alleged criminal organization suspected of sending Chinese women to Europe and forcing them into prostitution, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
In addition, investigators seized four tons of coins with an unspecified value, prosecutors said. Belgian police seized control of several buildings during raids in Antwerp, Charleroi, Leuven, Neufchâteau and Brussels, prosecutors said.
After a two-year investigation, some 300 police officers took part in Tuesday’s raids on human traffickers. The prosecutor’s office described the operation as one of the largest in Belgium against human traffickers in recent years.
A total of 27 people were detained, including nine who appeared before a judge and were charged with human trafficking and money laundering. Three suspects had Belgian nationality and the rest were of Chinese origin.
Police raided more than two dozen locations in Belgium and discovered 20 alleged victims, all of them from China. Searches were also made in Spain and Switzerland, where two people were arrested, according to the prosecution.
BELGIUM STABBING SUSPECT WAS ON LIST OF POSSIBLE EXTREMISTS
Belgian police seize $1.6 million during raids targeting a sex trafficking ring that forces Chinese women into prostitution in Europe.
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Prosecutors said Chinese sex workers are increasingly present in Belgium, particularly in the capital Brussels. They said the criminal organization targeted in the raids allegedly recruited women in China and transferred them to Europe, where they were “sexually exploited” and forced to hand over most of their profits.
The alleged prostitution ring used online rental platforms, hotels or vacation homes and websites specializing in sex ads to book appointments, prosecutors said, adding that victims were often shuttled from one location to another across the continent. .
Some of the victims were housed in a specialized reception center, prosecutors said.
The investigation involved the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, and the bloc’s anti-crime agency, Europol.
