Italian police round up "Hungarian" prostitution ring

Italian police, assisted by Interpol, arrested ten people, seven of them in Hungary, for maintaining an international prostitution ring, using women, predominantly Hungarians, who they forced into prostitution.

According to police, a Hungarian national living in Ancona "recruited" the women, using threats and violence. Many were forced to sell themselves at home to "learn the trade" before being transferred to Ancona, Genova, Bologna, Florence, Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, where they were under the supervision of professional prostitutes, police said.

The suspected ringleader is a Hungary-based Hungarian, they added, who regularly travelled to Italy to collect the money made by the prostitutes. If any resisted, police said, he brought strongmen from Hungary to "convince them otherwise."

Police believe that the ring introduced about 25 women/year to the Italian sex market alone.

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