On December 20 of last year, the activities of an organized criminal group engaged in human trafficking in the city of Istanbul were halted by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Rapid Investigation Department. According to the investigation, a woman born in 1986 in Samarkand region has been supplying girls for prostitution in hotels in Turkey since 2020 and was the leader of the group.
Members of the criminal group lured women and girls to Turkey with promises of high salaries, then confiscated their passports and forced them into prostitution. It was also established that an individual born in 1988 found women and girls in Samarkand who were in material distress, receiving $400 USD for each person sent.
During rapid operational measures, two women being sent to Turkey were detained at Tashkent International Airport. A criminal case has now been initiated against the members of the criminal group under Part 2 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code.
