Human trafficking probe targets nine Cork brothels

Nine brothels were inspected in Cork as part of a global crackdown on human trafficking.

Gardaí now expect to locate more victims of human trafficking, and identify and intercept new human trafficking networks.

Ireland was involved in Operation Global Chain — an annual international anti-human trafficking operation — along with Europol and other international partners in June.

The operation generated new lines of inquiry, with gardaí receiving contact from potential victims of human trafficking in the weeks since it concluded.

Contacts made following previous operations have led to investigations in to Brazilian human trafficking networks in Ireland. Operation Global Chain involved law enforcement agencies from 59 countries and was co-ordinated through command centres in Skopje, Macedonia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Gardaí were based at the Skopje control centre, where they participated in the sharing of real-time intelligence with international policing partners.

Gardaí searched 166 brothels and spoke to 269 sex workers across Ireland.

Arrested in Cork

A man wanted in Germany on allegations including child kidnapping, illegal restraint, and hostage taking was arrested in Cork city during the crackdown.

The man, aged in his 50s, was arrested at a massage parlour on a street off Oliver Plunkett St. Gardaí checked his identification and found he was wanted in Germany on charges including kidnapping his own child and taking them outside of the country illegally.

He has since been extradited to Germany.

Buying sex in Ireland is illegal, while selling sex is not.

However, people selling sex from a brothel can face prosecution, with a brothel defined in law as a premises where two or more people sell sex.

Although people — mostly women — found in these places could be prosecuted, gardaí have taken a more considered approach, increasingly focused on identifying potential victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in such settings and helping them rather than rushing to arrest them.