Police located and arrested a third person on Sunday evening in connection with an alleged kidnapping and forced prostitution case involving a Romanian woman in Paphos.
The 44-year-old woman was arrested and detained at 10pm on Sunday and appeared before Paphos District Court today, which issued a seven-day detention order against her.
Two other individuals remain in eight-day custody for the same case: a 51-year-old compatriot of the victim who accompanied her to Cyprus, and a 79-year-old pub owner from Paphos who was arrested following the 48-year-old woman’s complaint that the alleged crimes took place at his establishment.
Charges under investigation
The suspects face charges including kidnapping with intent to confine unlawfully, threats, psychological violence, conspiracy to commit a felony, trafficking of an adult person, sexual exploitation of an adult person, and money laundering from illegal activities.
Romanian authorities alert
The arrests followed Romanian authorities informing Cypriot police on Saturday that a 48-year-old Romanian national who had travelled to Cyprus in recent days with the 51-year-old man was possibly being held at a Paphos hotel against her will and was expected to travel to Poland that day.
Crime Detection Department officers visited the hotel but were unable to locate the woman. Later that day, police found the 48-year-old outside Paphos airport with the 51-year-old man, calling for help.
Victim’s account
Police approached the woman, and during the conversation, she told them that after arriving in Cyprus with the 51-year-old five days earlier, they stayed at a city hotel where he prevented her from leaving without his escort.
On two occasions, she said he took her to a specific establishment in Paphos where he forced her to have sexual encounters with clients of that establishment in exchange for payment.
The Anti-Trafficking Office is investigating the case in cooperation with Paphos CID.
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