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Copenhagen Police make human trafficking bust

A long-term investigation into human trafficking by Copenhagen Police resulted in the arrest of five people accused of forcing Bulgarian women into prostitution.

Published: 16 October 2014 08:41 CEST

Copenhagen Police make human trafficking bust

Police say five women were brought from Bulgaria and forced to work as prostitutes. Photo: Colourbox

Police said on Wednesday that three men and one woman were arrested in Copenhagen and an additional man was arrested in Malmö, Sweden on charges of human trafficking.

The five arrestees are suspected of forcing five Bulgarian women to work as prostitutes in Copenhagen’s Vesterbro district.

“They have brought women from Bulgaria to Denmark. They have recruited, transported and housed them and sent them onto the streets to make money,” police spokesman Carsten Ahrends told Ritzau.

The three men and one women arrested in Copenhagen will be held on remand for the next 27 days, while the Malmö man will be extradited to Copenhagen to face charges.

Police said that Wednesday’s arrests were the culmination of a long investigation into Vesterbro’s prostitution scene.

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Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market.

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years.

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said.

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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