Sex trafficking gangs are targeting Ukrainian refugee women who are entering Poland. The busiest crossing at Medyka has become a hub for trafficking gangs to hunt for young girls.
Sex traffickers are operating alone and in gangs in the area and are approaching Ukrainian women with expensive gifts, money, and shelter.
Unaccompanied female refugees are the primary target of traffickers and criminals offer safe accommodation and free transport to women, by acting as good Samaritans to lure women.
Four Million People Fled Ukraine
Volunteers are warning refugees to not accept any gifts from unknown people and to not visit any place without an official announcement.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, nearly four million people have fled Ukraine, UN data has revealed. A large number of refugees are women and children and they are vulnerable to human trafficking.
Initial cases of sex trafficking were registered at shelter points in Poland's Lublin city. Reports have also emerged that girls are also operating in these criminal gangs. They are trying to procure female refugees from bus stations.
One of the ex-soldiers, Billy Wright, who is operating on the Polish border, revealed that gangs operate by having look-outs – known as 'dickers' – who scout for potential victims on the Ukrainian side. He pointed out that the gang members spot a victim as an older mother with a daughter in her 20s or a younger mother with teenage daughters.
"It's better the younger they are. The going rate now for a girl in her 20s is £145,000," he added.
On the Ukrainian side especially in Lviv, traffickers click pictures of such families as they board trains and send them to their partners who are operating on the Polish side.
How a Ukrainian Woman Escaped Clutches of Traffickers?
A Ukrainian woman has described how did she escape the clutches of American traffickers who were posing as a UN volunteers.
Margaerita Plotnick -- who was with her mother and teenage cousin -- was approached at a refugee reception center by a stranger who offered to take her to the US.
It was only when the suspicious 25-year-old waitress secretly checked US entry requirements for Ukrainian refugees that she discovered the stranger was lying. "I had a lucky escape. I could have been a victim of this predator," Margaerita told the Daily Mail.
