Ten Hungarians apprehended in European raid

Hungarian police have interrogated 10 people on charges of human trafficking and forced labour as part of an international operation coordinated by Europol, the National Investigation Bureau’s Rapid Response Unit (KR NNI) said on Thursday.

The operation carried out between October 24 and 30 was aimed at clamping down on rings specialised in human trafficking, sexual exploitation and running panhandlers, the unit said on the website police.hu.

Local police authorities in Baranya, Fejér, Hajdú-Bihar, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Tolna counties controlled 2,887 people, 1,811 vehicles, 3,344 documents and 293 spots including locations of interest including bars, massage saloons and farms.

They interrogated ten suspects, all of them Hungarian nationals, of whom six were charged with human trafficking and the other four with forced labour.

In the operation, 13 victims have been identified. Seven of them, five girls and two women were victims of sexual exploitation while another woman and five men were forced labour victims, KR NNI said.