A HUNGARIAN GANG of seven men and four women has been jailed in London for sexually exploiting hundreds of women.
Their convictions come after one of their victims escaped from a brothel in the city and told police about her ordeal.
She detailed how she was sold, sexually exploited and raped for six years.
Now 26 years old, she had been forced to work as a prostitute in Hungary and Austria by her partner Jeno Burai.
Shortly after striking up the relationship, he started grooming her for exploitation. He then became abusive, beating and threatening to kill her.
In July 2013, he brought her to the UK where, at times, she was made to sleep with more than 10 men a day at a brothel in Peterborough.
While in the city, Burai became indebted to another Hungarian man, Zsolt Blaga – who also goes by the name Snake in criminal circles. To settle that debt, he sold the victim with an instruction to “beat her” if she “did not do what she was told”.
In October 2013, she was brought to another brothel where he raped her twice and forced her to have sex with other men.
On 31 October, she was left alone in the house and she took the opportunity to climb over the garden fence and make her way to the nearest police station. There, she told officers about the abuse she had endured at the hands of the traffickers.
She was brought to a place of safety and an investigation was launched. According to police, both men were involved with a “much wider criminal network”.
“Evidence indicates that they were involved in trafficking and sexually exploiting as many as 250 women at around 50 brothels in London and Peterborough,” Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Between June and July 2014, Met officers and Hungarian police executed search warrants and arrested 11 people, including Blaga and Burai, who were sentenced to 14 years and six years and eight months imprisonment respectively this week.
The remainder of the gang have been jailed for a total of 34 years and six months.
“The victim’s courage in escaping the gang and telling police about what happened to her has ultimately resulted in this international investigation and the gang being jailed,” Detective Chief Inspector Phil Brewer said following the court hearing.