Gang exploited foreign women
Eight people have been arrested for running a large gang that exploited foreign women, forcing them to work in strip shows throughout southern mainland Greece and the Ionian islands, police said yesterday. The arrests followed a concerted police swoop on nine strip clubs in various parts of Greece, where 95 foreign women were found to be employed. At least 28 of these proved to have been working for the gang, having been enticed from the former Soviet Union under false pretenses. They were then forced to perform in strip clubs to which the gang sold or rented them. In one case, police said, a woman controlled by the gang fell in love with a Greek man who was forced to buy her in order to marry her. The gang also dealt in drugs, police said. The suspects are Olecki Kifski, 27, from Ukraine, Vassilis Theodoridis, 30, from Uzbekistan, Ilias Saranidis, 24, and Nikos Papadopoulos, 25, from Kazhakstan, Valerian Sohadze, 28, from Georgia, and Emil Sposov, 30, Zlatka Kiriazova, 26 and Yasmina Mahmudova, 25, from Bulgaria.
