For two days, a police operation was carried out in Västerås with the aim of prosecuting people who buy sexual services and finding those who sell sex and offering them help.
- We know that a large part of the sex trade takes place via online advertisements, it helps us to find sex buyers and vulnerable women, says police officer David who participated in the operation.
On Tuesday evening, work was directed at a car with two women in it that was parked at Central Station in Västerås.
When the police started looking for the car, it was not long before several men who contacted the women showed up to buy sex, the police write in a press release.
- We often see that the sex trade takes place in hotels or campsites, but this time it took place completely open in different parking lots, probably because the women were in transit and lacked money to rent a room, says David.
Four men confessed to the crime
During the operation, the women were offered help and four men were arrested for buying sexual services.
- All four men confessed to the crime and were released after we secured evidence and held interrogations.
Before they went on, they were offered help aimed at preventing future sex purchases, says police officer David.
Police work continued on Wednesday night when one man was suspected of buying sexual services and another man of attempting to buy sexual services.
More efforts to wait
- It is important that the police are tireless in the work against the sex trade, which is more or less constantly ongoing.
It is largely about organized crime and people's right to a safe and secure life, says Sara Ekström, local police area manager in Västerås.
- The fact that we are now implementing initiatives and have further increased our knowledge in the work against the sex trade, means that more vulnerable people are offered help and those who buy sex to a greater extent risk being prosecuted.