Three charged in Belfast over human trafficking

Three charged in Belfast over human trafficking

Three people have appeared in court in Belfast charged with trafficking women into the country and forcing them into prostitution.

They were arrested in the city after PSNI officers raided a number of premises.

They are 35-year-old Flortina Ciurar, of Hugh Street, Belfast, Petru Balogh, 26, also of Hugh Street, and Ioan Mihai, 29, of Coombe Hill Park in the city.

All three are Romanian nationals.

They are charged with a series of offences, including trafficking women into Northern Ireland for prostitution.

They are also accused of brothel-keeping and possession of criminal property, namely cash.

At the time of the arrests police said the operation was targeting an organised crime group.

Six victims had been identified, but police said they expected more to be uncovered.

All six women were said to come from the same area of northern Romania.

A detective constable told the court that the charges were the culmination of a year-long investigation.

The alleged offences had come to light when a woman who had been forced into prostitution, had fled from Mr Balogh and Ms Ciurar and presented herself to police.

She told them she had been enticed to come from Romanian with the promise of work in an Amazon warehouse.

Ms Ciurar had made contact with the woman in her own country.

Both Ms Ciurar and Mr Balogh collected her from the airport having paid for the flight.

But when she arrived in Belfast she was told there was no job. She was told she could make lots of money by doing sex work and could pay off the price of her flight that way.

Neither Ms Ciurar not Mr Balogh applied for bail. Mr Mihai did apply for bail, which police objected to.

A solicitor for Mr Mihai, who the court heard had £45,000 in his account, said his client’s role was to facilitate a woman who had said she was working willingly as a sex worker.

She said she was gaining financially and was not working under any coercion.

“That’s a completely different complexion from the case that was outlined from the start,” solicitor Ciaran Toner said.

The police objected to bail on the grounds of risk of flight and potential interference with witnesses.

The judge refused bail and all three defendants were remanded in custody.

The PSNI carried out the raid in conjunction with the Romanian authorities and said they had also been working closely with gardaí and other agencies on the case.