Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain are the main target countries targeted by human trafficking groups for the exploitation of Romanian citizen victims, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police informed on Tuesday.
The Romanian Police, together with the Spanish National Police and the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons, launched, on Tuesday, the International Campaign for Awareness and Prevention Against Trafficking in Persons.
The goal of the campaign is to prevent human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation by reducing vulnerabilities to trafficking and discouraging the demand that favors this phenomenon. “It is the first campaign carried out at European level, which addresses in a coordinated manner both dimensions of traffic, namely demand and supply that favor this phenomenon”, the Romanian Police said.
“In cross-border files, the analysis of the situation regarding the target states targeted by the human trafficking groups in the exploitation of Romanian citizen victims highlights the fact that, in recent years, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain are in the first places, according to the number of files registered on these premises. It is noted that the first 4 destination countries dedicated to criminal activity from previous years have been preserved”, the Romanian Police mentions.
As for Spain, it is still a target country for Romanian traffickers, ranking 4th in the top exploitation destinations, with an annual percentage between 12 and 13% of the total destination countries.
In Romania, in the first 9 months of 2022, in order to reduce the phenomenon of human trafficking, the police officers from the structures to fight organized crime destroyed 20 organized groups, made up of 141 people, sent to court, the Romanian Police reported.
Policemen also conducted 108 operative actions under the coordination of DIICOT or in its own criminal investigation actions, of which 46 were large-scale operative actions.
Within them, 347 home search warrants and 392 arrest warrants were executed. Thus , 172 people were detained and 128 arrest warrants (preventive and at home) and 80 judicial control orders were issued.