A sex slave ring involving more than 25 women from Eastern Europe has been smashed by Swedish police, Reuters says.
Authorities told the wire service the women were likely forced to work as prostitutes, with police saying they struck against members of a suspected prostitution ring last Friday in Stockholm, detaining four people including one woman.
Reuters says three women, 17-20 years old, from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were held against their will and forced to work as prostitutes, according to police who say they've now been sent home.
Authorities are investigating whether the ring was linked to six gangs in other European countries.
The ring was found after a young Czech woman phoned her mother in her homeland saying she was forced to prostitute herself and was held hostage, Reuters says. Her mother contacted Swedish police by way of local authorities, with Swedish police discovering the young woman had been beaten and held in a hotel for refugees with two other women.
In Sweden itself, there's been widespread criticism that a law taking effect last January making it illegal to buy sex has failed to stop prostitution, Reuters says. The law was aimed, in fact, at stemming a tide of European women coming to Sweden for the sex trade, the wire adds.
