Sex traffickers facing prison after forcing 120 women to work in London brothels

 
Convicted: Tatiana Shmyrova and human trafficker Vishal Chaudhary
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Criminals who enticed women to travel to London to work as receptionists or cleaners before they were forced into prostitution are facing jail today.

The Hungarian-based gang trafficked at least 120 women into London where they were raped, beaten and forced to work in brothels across the capital.

The six gang members — led by Indian-born Vishal Chaudhary — are among 25 criminals convicted or jailed in the past month alone in a series of operations against Eastern European human trafficking gangs targeting London.

Police say there are an increasing number of joint inquiries with countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania into prostitution and trafficking gangs.

Scotland Yard said there are at least seven live inquiries into crime groups bringing women into London.

In one operation with Romanian police, the first of its kind, 12 Romanian nationals were jailed for 89 years in their own country for bringing women to Britain to work in prostitution.

In another case earlier this week a Russian madam who ran a “high class” escort agency was jailed for eight years at Southwark crown court. Tatiana Shmyrova, 45, exploited a talented former Bulgarian athlete after she was lured to Britain with the promise of a new life working as a tour guide in London.

The Chaudhary gang trafficked more than 120 women from Hungary into the UK.

They were flown into Stansted airport and drivers would deliver them to brothels in 12 boroughs including Westminster, Waltham Forest, Islington and Kensington and Chelsea. Many applied online for what they believed were office, cleaning and babysitting jobs. They were forced to have sex with up to 20 men a day.

The gang, who police suspect made millions of pounds in profits, controlled the women with threats of violence to themselves and their families. Enforcer Krisztian Abel, 33, a Hungarian from Ilford, abused the women, aged between 18 and 45, if they refused to do as they were told.

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As punishment for ordering a pizza, one woman was forced to carry out sex acts with clients which left her with serious injuries.

The gang ran the brothel network from a makeshift call centre at a semi-detached house in Parkview Gardens, Brent Cross.

Chaudhary lived in a luxury apartment in Pan Peninsula Square, Canary Wharf. Police arrested him and three other gang members in January last year. Abel and Chaudhary’s brother Kunal were held later.

Abel’s sister Szilvia Abel, 24, was arrested in Budapest under a European Arrest warrant and extradited to Britain.

Vishal Chaudhary and three others were found guilty of conspiracy to traffic women for sexual exploitation after a five-month trial. Kristztian Abel pleaded guilty to the same charge and to controlling prostitution.

Det Sgt Alan Clark, of the Trafficking and Kidnap Unit, said: “Many of the victims have been deeply traumatised. One victim’s account brought the interpreter to tears.

“They came to London for regular employment, to make a better life. Instead, they found themselves trapped and at the mercy of this abusive group.”

The gang members are to be sentenced later.

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