Three men, two of them Romanians, were detained by the Judiciary Police on suspicion of forcing women to prostitute themselves in the Bombarral, Lourinhã and Leiria areas.

According to the board of the Center of the PJ, the trio is charged with trafficking in human beings, in ​​sexual exploitation and also the crime of aggravated pimping.

The investigation was initiated following a complaint lodged by a victim, who escaped control of the defendants. At the beginning of December a number of domestic and non-domiciliary searches were carried out and the suspects were arrested, the two Romanian citizens aged 30 and 33 and 80-year-old Portuguese.

According to the PJ, “foreigners recruited the victims in their native country, being brought to Portugal with the false promise of working on farms, very well paid. Instead, they were forced to engage in activities related to the practice of prostitution on the public highway, and the proceeds were intended for the perpetrators.

The victims had their personal documents confiscated and were subject to control both on the public highway and in the homes intended for them, said the PJ, who found and seized “various objects and documents correlated with the crimes committed”

The detainees were subjected to a first judicial interrogation, and the two Romanians required to make presentations at the police station in the area of ​​their local residence was applied to the two foreigners.