Two further arrests in new child pimping investigation

Police in Athens have made two further arrests in the latest investigation into a suspected pimping ring that targeted girls aged between 14 and 18 years old.

The two male suspects, aged 55 and a 36, allegedly drove the girls to hotels in the city to meet “clients.” The 55-year-old was already arrested on similar charges in January but was given conditional release.

The arrests bring to six the number of people now detained in relation to the case since Tuesday morning.

According to an earlier announcement, one of the key suspects in the case is a 25-year-old woman who is thought to have been responsible for recruiting the girls and arranging their meetings with customers at pay-by-the-hour hotels in the city center.

She is said to have recruited at least seven girls since the summer of 2023, receiving payments of between €50 and 100 from each engagement she arranged. The girls got a small percentage of the fee but were also often paid with drugs, according to investigators.

Another woman, aged 21, is also accused of recruitment, though to a smaller degree, while the other two suspects are men who are said to have been responsible for driving the girls to and from their engagements. One of them is a professional taxi driver, according to the police.