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Police bust online prostitute ring
Israeli suspects arrested for bringing Ukrainian, Russian women to Israel as prostitutes under guise of medical tourism.
After an extended undercover police operation, two men were arrested Sunday for suspectedly oranizing an Israeli-Ukrainian-Russian crime ring in which women were brought to Israel to work as prostitutes with the cover story of arriving for medical tourism.
The two men, from Holon and Bat Yam, stand accused of leading the illegal operation and in the course of police investigations three women were brought to Tel Aviv Sunday for questioning and were jailed pending their expulsion from Israel.
The Israeli suspects arrived in the Magistrate's Court in Rishon LeZion Monday morning for an initial remand hearing. Investigators say that they used Israel's medical tourism industry, which attracts many seeking treatment from Ukraine and Russia, to bring the foreign women into Israel.
Investigations began after police received a lead at the beginning of the year when two Ukrainian civilians arrived in Israel and told border control that they suffered from a skin disease. According to the two women, they had arrived for medical care at one of Israel's leading hospitals.
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The women even gave the name of a real company that deals with the medical tourism industry in order to relieve suspicions.
In reality, the women had paid half of their plane tickets to Israel to work as prostitutes. The other half was apparently paid by the suspects who also took 50% of the NIS 700 paid by clients.
Services offered by the women could be found on a website which detailed what acts each woman was ready to perform along with a picture. Police ordered services on offer at the website and arrested the three women who arrived at the Tel Aviv apartment.
