Police have raided brothels throughout Bosnia, arresting 223
people in
a crackdown on prostitution and human trafficking. Some 500 law enforcement
officers were involved in the operation.
Over
170 women suspected of prostitution were among those detained. Most of
them were from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine
and the Russian Federation.
"This was the most significant co-ordinated police action
taken to date
by the police in Bosnia-Herzegovina to address the serious problem of
human trafficking and forced prostitution," a UN statement said.
Others arrested were brothel owners, their employees and clients caught
on the premises.
Jacques Paul Klein, the head of the United Nations in Bosnia,
said the
simultaneous raid on 38 nightclubs had been planned for two months.
He said the action, code-named "Makro", demonstrates
that "it is possible
for police throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina to co-ordinate activities in
the fight against criminal activities."
Police are trying to establish how many of the women were forced into
prostitution. Many of them came to Bosnia on the assumption that they
would be working as waitresses, only to have their passports taken away.
The action was the biggest co-ordinated effort to date involving separate
police forces from the Bosnian Serb republic and the Muslim-Croat
Federation, the country's two mini-states.