CZECH REPUBLIC
Attorney asks to remand alleged procurers' gang in custody
CZECH NEWS AGENC : PRAGUE, June 23 (CTK) - The state attorney today asked the
court to remand ten gang members suspected of extensive trafficking in women in
custody, deputy city state attorney Marcela Kratochvilova has told CTK.
She added that the court should decide on the custody on Thursday.
The ten men, detained on Tuesday, are, along with 15 people from Slovakia, accused of
having organised escorting of luxurious prostitutes all over the world.
"They are mainly employees of a modelling agency in Prague," Kratochvilova said.
Police informed on Tuesday that the gang pretended to be from a Prague branch of a
Slovak modelling agency to lure women who were then sent abroad and forced to
prostitution.
Nova television reported that famous photographer Adolf Zika from Prague is among the
Czech accused.
Slovak deputy police president Jaroslav Spisiak said that police accused 15 persons of
criminal conspiracy and human trafficking in Slovakia on Tuesday. Some of the suspects
face up to life imprisonment if found guilty.
The Slovak daily Novy cas reported today that the ELI modelling agency from Nitra,
west Slovakia, is behind the trafficking.
According to Novy cas, renowned Slovak stylists and photographers of celebrities have
been entangled in the affair. One of them helped in the recent presidential election
campaign of Ivan Gasparovic who was elected Slovak president in April.
According to Slovak police, the ELI agency operated mainly in Bratislava and Nitra and
recruited women in several Slovak as well as Czech towns. The Slovak agency has
abused a total of 230 women, and gained the profit of 11 to 30 million Slovak crowns a
month.
An agency of a similar name, ELI Bohemia, has an office in Prague. The allegation that
this is the Czech branch of the controversial Slovak ELI agency at stake is supported by
the fact that the District Court in Prague 3, where ELI Bohemia is seated, should decide
on remanding the procurers' gang in custody.
CTK has not succeeded in getting in touch with someone from the Prague agency.
However, a warning that girls should beware of ELI Bohemia was released on the
Modeling XY websites in May already, since the agency had also ads on the AAA Erotic
Service website.
"An exclusive international escort agency is looking for VIP lady companions. We offer
a minimal monthly income of 100,000 crowns, a maximum professional level, discretion,
travelling all over the world and work in prominent circles," said the agency's internet ad.
Afterwards, a number of girls informed about their bad experience with the ELI agency
in the internet discussion forum. Some of them said that the company had exerted psychic
pressure on girls during interviews.
In reaction to the case, police have allegedly checked people in all Prague modelling
agencies.
According to police, Czech members of the procurers' gang have earned an equivalent of
about 99 million crowns by trafficking in 70 women.
If found guilty, the men face up to ten years in prison.
The gangs forced the women to work as prostitutes for clients from all over the world
either in Czech brothels or in other countries, for example Austria, Germany, Italy, Egypt
and the United Arab Emirates.
The women's photographs were released on the internet, and customers could rent them
for various sexual services for up to one week. Clients paid part of the money to the
agency and the rest to a prostitute or her driver. The prostitutes were allowed to keep 30
percent of their income.
($1=26.408 Czech crowns) ($1=33.015 Slovak crowns)
<<CZECH NEWS AGENCY -- 06/23/04>>