Investigation led by officers of the MOI Organized Crime and Terrorism Department (UBOP) and their colleagues from the UBOP of the Republic of Mari El resulted in liquidation of an organized crime group, involved in trafficking of women to European countries.

It has been determined that, in order to cover their operations, the group opened a tourist agency in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, called Piligirm. The company managers and staff recruited women in the Republic of Mari El to work in various European countries as waitresses, governesses, concierges, etc. The agency would provide visa support for the women and send them abroad. Upon arrival to their country of destination, however, the women would find themselves in the arms of the group members abroad who by threats and blackmail forced the women to work as prostitutes. One of the leverages employed was the request to pay back a bank loan which was obtained illegally when travel documents were drafted. For every new woman involved in prostitution, the group members received from their colleagues abroad a premium in the amount of 2,000 Euro.

In November 2006, in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, officers of  UBOP of the Republic of Mari El detained three members of the organized crime group: 25-year-old director of Piligirm tourist agency Alexander Semenov (who provided general management of the sex trafficking), 40-year-old manager Veronika Arhipova and her 19-year-old daughter Anastasia who were recruiting the women. At the same time in Moscow, Mihail Semenov, a 21-year-old brother of the head of the group, was detained. He dealt with purchasing air tickets for victims and providing them with a place to stay while in Moscow. In the course of searches, the following evidence of criminal activity of the group members was seized and impounded: money transfer receipts, pictures of women, email correspondence, etc.  

In late December 2006, at an apartment on Tvardovsky Street in Moscow, officers of the MOI UBOP and their colleagues from the UBOP of the Republic of Mari El detained the fifth member of the group, a 31-year-old Aleksei Volkov who was in charge of obtaining foreign visas for victims.

According to the available information, in 2003-2006, the group trafficked to Europe about twenty Mari El women, aged 20 - 43 years. The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Mari El initiated a criminal case under Section 3 of Article 127.1. of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation (trafficking of human beings). Four group members are currently under custody and one group member provided a written undertaking not to leave the place. The investigation is ongoing with the objective to identify additional cases of criminal activity of the group members.

Press Service of the Organized Crime and Terrorism Department