STA, 15 March 2021 - Criminal complaints have been filed against eight persons and two legal entities as part of an investigation of alleged trafficking in human beings or abuse of prostitution in a night club in Šentilj. The scheme involved at least 38 women victims and is believed to have fetched the criminal gang at least EUR 207,000.
The investigation culminated last Wednesday with house searches carried out at 13 locations, with criminal police officers identifying at least 38 victims, mostly from the Dominican Republic.
Criminal complaints have been filed against two legal entities and eight persons, one of whom is still in detention.
The suspected criminal acts in the night club on the border with Austria near Maribor are believed to had been taking place for several years, Beno Meglič, head of the criminal police of the Maribor Police Department, told the press on Monday.
The police have found out using covert methods that the scheme was performed by a criminal gang in which every member had very specific roles.
"The gang was headed by a 40-year-old Slovenian citizen who, together with his wife, a 35-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic, ran the night club," Meglič said. The club was leased from a 63-year-old Slovenian citizen.
The gang recruited at least 38 women, mostly form the Dominican Republic, but also from Serbia, Romania, Paraguay, Croatia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ukraine and Slovenia.
According to Meglič, the suspects took advantage of the socio-economic situation of the women in their native countries as a recruitment tool.
Some of them were lured to Slovenia under the pretence of a well-paid waitress job, and they were accommodated at various locations in and around Maribor. From there they were taken to the night club, where they had to provide sex services.
The scheme did not stop even during the Covid-19 lockdown, which according to Meglič "shows how utterly careless and irresponsible attitude the gang had towards the victims and visitors, and to public safety and health in general".
The price of sexual services was set in advance at EUR 140 per hour, with the women receiving only part of the payment, as they first had to give most of the money to the gang as reimbursement of costs of transfer to Slovenia.
"Only when they repaid this debt, they started getting their share. They were able to stop doing prostitution only when the gang allowed it or when they managed to recruit, under the pretence of a well-paid waitress job, at least two other women who would then had to do prostitution themselves," he added.
The victims, aged 25-35, were under constant surveillance and some of them formally married Slovenian citizens in order to get residence permits. The first estimates say that the criminal gang has earned at least EUR 207,000 with the scheme.
Under the Slovenian criminal code, between three and 15 years in prison and a fine is envisaged for a criminal act of trafficking in human beings as part of a criminal gang.
Meglič added that criminal police officers were also looking into suspected criminal act of money laundering committed by the mentioned 40-year-old and the 63-year-old Slovenian citizens.
According to the newspaper Večer, the suspects include Zlatko Župec, the person who leased the Tropicana night club, and its owner Bojan Belna, who is a member of the Šentilj municipal council from the Democratic Party (SDS).
Meglič did not mention any specific names today for the sake of protection of personal information. "I may confirm that no political party was subject of investigation in these preliminary proceedings," he added.
