Turkmenistan: Human Trafficking Ring Broken Up in Ashgabat

Authorities in Turkmenistan have broken up a human trafficking network operating in Ashgabat. The traffickers organized fake-passports and exit visas for women who ended up in brothels in Turkey, opposition website Chrono-tm.org has reported.

The women were flown to Istanbul via Baku, Azerbaijan, as part of what is described as a "well developed and smoothly operating" trafficking route. The victims were duped into thinking they would find regular work abroad.

According to the report, the café where the gang's boss worked was bulldozed. However, the Chrono-tm.org report notes that the Turkmen government is reluctant to admit the existence trafficking networks in the country even though hundreds of unsuspecting Turkmen nationals are said to be trafficked for work in the sex industry in Turkey, Israel and the Middle East annually.