During an international action day, Austrian and Romanian authorities worked together to dismantle a human trafficking network that sexually exploited young Romanian women in a club in Austria. Detention has been ordered for four suspects and multiple residences in Austria and Romania have been searched. The investigation was facilitated through a joint investigation team set up at Eurojust.
In January 2023, three of the suspects who are related started their criminal activities and set up a sophisticated criminal group with clearly defined roles. The leader coordinated its members, who were responsible for the recruitment, transportation, transfer and housing of their victims, as well as coercing them into and facilitating prostitution.
The group was able to lure over 20 victims into sexual exploitation. The vulnerable young women, some suffering from mental health conditions were deceived through fake romantic relationships. After they were lured into the relationship, the women would be transported to Austria, where they were forced to engage in prostitution at a club in Vienna that was run by the criminal group.
The criminal activities earned the group significant funds, approximately EUR 1.5 million. The funds were transferred to associates of the suspects and used to purchase real estate and luxury vehicles.
Due to the international activities of the group, judicial cooperation was essential to collect evidence and exchange information on the group’s activities. A joint investigation team between Romanian and Austrian authorities was set up at Eurojust in February 2026 to ensure real-time exchange of information and evidence.
Europol provided operational support to Austria and Romania. Europol’s experts were deployed to the action day with a mobile office and set up Virtual Command Post (VCP) to facilitate the exchange of information.
During coordination meetings at the Eurojust headquarters in The Hague, an action day was planned to take down the criminal group. On 5 May, authorities detained four suspects and carried out eight searches in Romania and three searches in Austria.
The actions were carried out by the following authorities:
- Romania: Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) – Pitești Territorial Service; Organized Crime Combating Brigades and Service of Pitești, Ploiești and Buzău
- Austria: Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office; Provincial Criminal Intelligence Service Vienna; Federal Criminal Intelligence Service
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union