Six sentenced over Romanian sex-traffic ring

SIX people in Newcastle have been sentenced for their part in a sex trafficking ring between the UK and Romania.

- By NICOLE GOODWIN

The gang trafficked 14 young women to the UK from Romania between 2016 and 2019 for their own financial gain.

The women were then sexually exploited at multiple addresses in London and Doncaster, where they suffered sexual, physical, and financial abuse at the hands of their traffickers.

But now a five-year long joint investigation between South Yorkshire Police and Romanian Police has shut down the large-scale sex trafficking organised crime group.

Officers traced phone records showing communications between the group members, recorded large cash transfers between bank accounts associated with the traffickers and tracked vehicles across the country being used to transport women for sexual exploitation.

Officers exposed the scale of years of abuse and coercion suffered by the gang’s victims. The women suffered sexual, physical, and financial abuse at the hands of their traffickers who sought to control and sexually exploit them.

The 14 women who were trafficked and subjected to exploitation have been supported by specialist officers in Romania.