There are also a lawyer and an entrepreneur among the 10 people arrested in Bari in the investigation which brought to light a ring of child prostitution. The suspects allegedly induced, facilitated, managed and organized the sexual exploitation of three girls under the age of 18, making a significant profit from the sexual services offered, for a fee, to various clients.
The illegal activity allegedly took place in some accommodation facilities, including luxury ones. This is what the Mobile team of Bari discovered which, at the first light of dawn, in the capital of Puglia, in Rome, Trani and Lecce, carried out a precautionary measure, issued by the judge of the preliminary investigations of the Court, at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Repubblica, against 10 people: 4 womenaged 35, 21, 25 and 24 respectively, all of whom ended up in prison, and 6 men. Of the latter, a 29-year-old and a 25-year-old from Bari were arrested and locked up in a prison. For two customers, aged 47 and 42, the photos were taken home: they would have been aware of the girls’ minor age and, despite this, they would not have hesitated to have sexual relations with the young girls in exchange for money. For a third customer, aged 55, theresidence obligation in the municipality of residence. The same precautionary measure was ordered against a 45-year-old from Bari, manager of an accommodation facility in which he allegedly tolerated the habitual practice of prostitution.
The investigations were started by the Flying Squad of Bari, in March 2022, following the complaint presented by the mother of a 16-year-old, who noticed anomalous behaviors in the daughter and found that he was dating an adult. The latter was described in the advertisement published as an escort operating in the Marche region. Very important for the purposes of the four investigations screenshot from the stories on the Instagram social network of one of the girls, handed over by the minor’s mother to the Flying Squad agents after having filed a complaint. In one of the four screen-shots, five girls were on a bed and were eating a pizza in an accommodation facility in Monopoli.
Thanks to stalking, stakeouts, interceptions, numerous hearings, including those of minors involved in prostitution, carried out with the help of psychologists, investigative elements were acquired which led to the police operation carried out this morning. The events would have taken place in some accommodation facilities, including luxury ones, in the provinces of Bari and Bat, starting from the month of October 2021. The minors, at the time 16 year oldsthey would have been lured and introduced into the world of prostitution with the promise, found, of easy earnings.
Some customers would even pay hundreds of euros for individual sexual services. The money earned through prostitution would be used by the girls to buy clothes, bags and dine in expensive restaurants. They would have adopted the necessary precautions to prevent their relatives from discovering their considerable financial resources and the purchases made. To manage the activity, dedicated telephone numbers would have been used, inserted in specific online advertisements; someone would have booked the accommodation facilities, others would have accompanied the girls to the rooms and still others would have received phone calls from customers, setting up appointments. The arrested adults and the 29-year-old alleged exploiter from Bari would have waited in adjacent rooms for the minors to finish their services, to personally receive the money from the clients and pay the girl their share, corresponding to the 50% of the amount received.
