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Police in Gothenburg have confirmed that sex trafficking in the city has developed into a full-blown slave trade - but that they lack the resources to do anything about it.
Gothenburg police busted a large Romanian pimping network in 2011, but it wasn't long before new brothel-keepers from various countries took over.
Now the problem is back with a vengeance, with police admitting they lack the resources to address it - and are thus forced to ignore the reports.
"We haven't worked with the issue at all for a year now," Stefan Adamsson, police officer in the Gothenburg trafficking unit, told The Local. "We would need to be three times as many police to be able to do anything about it."
Newspaper Expressen reported earlier this week that human traffickers had gone from "just" selling sex to selling women as lifelong slaves.
The newspaper's sources said the cost for a slave - "for life" - is €2,000 ($2680). For 700 kronor ($100) one can rent a couple of girls for a day, for cooking, cleaning, or anything else. "Do what you like with them," one seller reportedly said.
"It has really always been a form of slave trade," Adamsson told The Local. "It's just a different name. Some are sold to work and some are sold for work, but they are just different forms of human trafficking."
Human trafficking is an acknowledged problem in large Swedish cities, with well-established red-light districts in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. However, there are no clear statistics on how widespread the black-market business actually is as much of the trade is conducted online.
A report from Lund University in 2012 found that one in ten of the 5,000 Swedish men surveyed had paid for sex at some point during their lives. That number is lower than many places in Europe, Adamsson said, with rates as high as 60 percent in Spain and Italy, but still high enough to be of definite concern. While 85 percent of those who had purchased sex said they had only done it abroad, it is difficult to find statistics for how many purchases actually occur in Sweden - since buying sex has been illegal since 1999. It is not, however, illegal for a person to sell sex in Sweden. The women who prostitute themselves, whether of free will or out of force, commit no crime. But it is a crime to pimp or procure - as Adamsson said many men do with their "girlfriends".
"Particularly when it comes to the girls from Romania, it's frequently their boyfriends who are the pimps," Adamsson told The Local. "They say it's temporary and 'It will be you and me when we get back to Romania'. They do it for the men they love, who promise a better life." In November last year news station TV4 reported that sex trafficking was on the rise, with a quarter million sex purchases in Stockholm alone over the course of one year. The report stated that a sum of about 400 million kronor was exchanged online for sex sales, and that there was no way of knowing how many more purchases occurred on the streets.
"It's like ordering a pizza," Per Hjort, a Stockholm detective, told TV4 at the time. "You call and say what you want, and for how long, and then the girl comes to your place." The situation is similar in Gothenburg, but police have other priorities. Persistent and war-like gang violence has kept the police force busy. In September last year the police launched 'Operation Trygg' (Operation Safe) to combat the shootings. Still, there have been more than 20 shootings in Gothenburg this year alone.
"Management has decided to prioritize not letting these young people tear each other apart," Adamsson said.
"We have a pile ten centimetres high of tips and reports [about human trafficking], but we don't have the time or resources to handle it so we can't even look. We can read them of course, but then we just feel frustrated because we can't do anything."
Reader Comments
After watching this sitcom a few times I found it rather insulting to Sweden and not all that funny...........but after reading this eye-opener, I don't find it nearly insulting enough. Well, I will now watch it again and find it hilarious because apparently these people ARE FOR REAL!!!! I hate to wonder how many children are involved in this "full-blown slave trade that has gone from "just" selling sex to selling women as lifelong slaves". This whole planet has become SO fu**cking absurd and over-run with perverts.......and it's just the beginning.
@NancyYvonne:
Moo-moo.
Oink-oink.
Baa-baa.
Bleat-bleat.
Cock-a-doodle-doo.
Bark-bark.
Mew-mew.
Neigh-neigh.
Hi, Nancy. I live on a small traditional farm (no industrial poisons used, other than fuel for small tractors), and these (above) are some of my friends speaking. I have found most of them to be pretty good sorts, in fact, some of them amaze and entertain me (though not always) with their behavior and intelligence, albeit not exactly human. In addition, there are many wild animals around here, there is much diversity of life. Animalistic.
I would recommend a world of more farmers, more 'hands-on' activity (lo-tech, no-tech), local trade and local money 'forms' (barter and genuine money, not paper and plastic big government bullshit), more animals in less concentrated areas (less factory-style 'efficiency'--duh) and far fewer hucksters, bureaucrats and soldiers and with no billionaires whatsoever.
But perhaps we will reach and inhabit and technologize (ie., enslave, desecrate and destroy) the moon and Mars and Jupiter first.
And then on into the greater, far-reaching Universe!
The search and spread of intelligent life must continue.
ned, out
I too love animals, they bring a lot of joy into my life. After the last of my dogs died, it was like someone put a cat attracting beacon on my house. We have gone from one cat to five in a little over a year, plus a couple of strays that come by for handouts. That being said, by their nature, some animals are predators. That is the way they were designed and I find no fault in that. It is when people revert to that predatory nature that I am referring to.
I would love to have your lifestyle, however life brought me to a different path. I am glad that there are people out there like you and wish there were more. My one consolation out here in the burbs is the beautiful garden I created in which to commune with nature and mother earth. If only the mosquitoes would respect my little corner of paradise.
Self respect/esteem is something everyone must develop on their own. Parental influence bears down on this, of course, but many that have been poorly raised have not gone down this sex/slave path. Some are just born victims and unless THEY seek the help needed in overcoming their self esteem issues they will most likely remain a victim.
It's certainly a sad state, but we are grateful for the beauty of all the animals and gardens that help balance what's happening in our world right now.
Darkest before the dawn.
How many slaves ever revolt in any time, in any civilization? It is always a very small minority, and Game Theory makes good use of this factor in its equation of control of the herd. We are all sheep until we learn to become shepherds for our own souls.... as the film "Contact" put it... baby steps... this is how it has always been done.... or something like that. How long will we need to be slaves? As long as it takes to learn it isn't necessary to be one.
We don't have to become detached so much as learn to remain nonattached... the observer mode... but then there can ever only be so many in any role at one time.... or the game ends having served its purpose. Slavery isn't new, neither is predatory pedophilia, it's been around forever, just hidden in some states like Sweden more than others that proclaim a 'higher' state of civilization... pretending that they are 'holier than thou'... giving themselves awards, as men like to do, all the while engaging in the basic predatory practices as programmed and as they have chosen to do.. chosen to be.. if Adamic and capable of choice. It's difficult to realize that most of our species remains like most machines, programmed to do only specific tasks... and not much more... unless society as a whole can be reprogrammed, but that brings up the issue of the nature of the school we exist within.. Purgatory... as it seems designed for its current purpose. To reprogram seems to imply elimination. How many of us would be needed in this game after that? Isn't this what the Ra group mentioned? Thus the introduction of a 'darker' element into the equation here? From Kantek with Love? .... or something like that, no? If the student isn't learning, the lesson gets harder just to get their attention... but how many of us are really 'students' in this classroom? Take out the PreAdamics, the newly minted Adamics, the heavy loaded karmic cases and the wandering crew and how many are left? Then from this subset we have to separate those who choose the current programming over a different one... the game seems fixed, no? Just as life does for most people once difficulties arise.... as they never learn that life itself is just a game... no one ever told them, no one ever pointed it out... as those hints are only for those looking for them, and not for the rest. The answers await the questions and obviously, these 'slaves' a reflection of our society... where truth is kept hidden in that dark, dank basement closet in O'melas.... from where we have to wake up and learn to walk away.... with the realization that someone else will take our spot in that chair of chains.... someone looking to move up a notch in the circle of life... learning to deal with one predator at a time.... we are the tortured, we are the torturers.