Prosecutor’s Office completed and sent to court the criminal case on 8 members of the “Moldova Mea” public association, including its president, on charge of setting up and directing an organized criminal group specialized in trafficking in human beings. To be mentioned that the number of victims exceeds 100 persons.
Note that on 11 October, criminal investigation and special investigations officers of the Border Police Department jointly with the representatives of the organized crime control and investigation Unit of the General Prosecutor’s Office carried out several searches and prosecutions at the above-mentioned persons’ homes.
According to evidence collected by criminal investigation officers of the BPD and the prosecutors, the suspected persons organized a cross-border criminal network, which under the pretext of collecting money for children with scoliosis recruited and transported to the Russian Federation - 12 people including two minors for use in begging.
The victims belonged to poor families and were recruited promising to be volunteers. At the destination, through fraudulent advertisements and seizing their documents, the recruits were forced to beg on the streets of various cities and regions of the Russian Federation. Money collected from begging, an amount of about 37 million MDL, were managed by the President of the Association "Moldova Mea".
Currently, the president of the Association is under house arrest, and his accomplices are investigated at liberty.
The criminal case was sent to the Central Trial Court.
With regards to other members of the criminal group, including doctors, the investigations are ongoing and two of the persons are declared wanted.