Trafficking in human beings for sexual and other purposes - Polisen

Annex 1 – Reporting by the police authorities47Annex 1 – Reporting by thepolice authoritiesThe following report is based on the information thatthe police authorities submitted to the SwedishNational Police Board for 2011. The only policeauthorities mentioned here are those that have reportedcases involving human trafficking for various purposes,related cases and cases of particular interest.Collaboration Area Stockholm(Counties of Stockholm and Gotland)The situation in the county of StockholmIn 2003, the government passed a resolution toassign SEK 30 million to the police to combathuman trafficking during the period 2004-2006.That same year, the surveillance squad within theCity Police Commissioner District began a HumanTrafficking Project called Project Europe. The objectiveof this project was to identify individuals andnetworks responsible for aggravated procuring orhuman trafficking for sexual purposes and associatedcrimes in the county of Stockholm and to bringthese people to trial.In May 2008, the management of the policeauthority in the County of Stockholm resolved thatProject Europa should be reformed into a commissionto combat human trafficking for sexual purposesand the project period should be extended to December2010. In April 2011, the operation was made permanentand the project was reformed into a section.Less complex cases of procuring are dealt with at thecounty’s other Police Commissioner Districts.For a long time, the Stockholm police have beenfollowing the development of prostitution activitiesand related crimes such as procuring and human traffickingfor sexual purposes. The City Police CommissionerDistrict employs people with many years ofexperience in investigating crimes similar to humantrafficking, and this has contributed to the developmentof effective working practices.In 2011, the authority received particular informationabout girls and women from Estonia, Lithuania,Romania, Nigeria, Hungary, Thailand and Latviawho were being exploited for sexual purposes in theStockholm area. The suspected perpetrators alsocame from these countries and from Sweden. The foreignwomen who were available for sale on websites inSweden were exploited mainly in apartments andhotels in Stockholm. An increasing number of women,mainly from Lithuania and Romania but alsofrom Nigeria, were exploited in street prostitution.The women were usually sent to Sweden by ferryfrom the Baltic States and Finland, or by bus. Somewomen were sent to Sweden by air.In 2011, three reports were drawn up concerninghuman trafficking for sexual purposes. One reportled to prosecution while two were closed down afterinvestigation due to lack of evidence. A further 45reports were filed concerning aggravated procuringand/or procuring.In addition, 351 reports were filed concerning thepurchase of sexual services in this section and 392throughout the authority. All reports concerning thepurchase of sexual services concerned men who hadpurchased or tried to purchase sexual services fromwomen. All of the reviewed reports led to preliminaryinvestigations being initiated. A total of 139 legal proceedingswere initiated, of which 96 resulted in ordersof summary punishment, 37 in court judgements andsix in waivers of prosecution.In 2011, a number of women who had been in theprostitution environment in Stockholm were deportedto the countries in which they were domiciled.Before deportation, the police unsuccessfully investigatedwhether the women were being exploited inprostitution in Sweden within the framework of criminalactivities such as human trafficking or procuring.Deportations of women from another EU countrywho were being exploited in prostitution ceased after