Police’s report to deputies outlines many obstacles
CABARET owners are installing security cameras and guards around their venues to stay ahead of police raids, the House Crime Committee heard yesterday.
Police have also reported resorting to bulldozers and posing as workers, assistant to the chief Soteris Charalambous said.
The committee yesterday discussed the recent US State Department report on human trafficking, which placed Cyprus on its watch list due to “evidence of significant trafficking from source countries”.
Charalambous told the committee that police have stepped up their crackdown on prostitution and pimping adding, however, they were facing several obstacles.
He said Paphos cabaret owners were so angered by the crackdown that they have formed a six-member committee to protest.
Charalambous suggested legislation allowing police to tap phones would be of use but when deputies put to him that police already had the equipment to eavesdrop, he assured that the force was not eavesdropping on any citizen.
The committee heard that police lost many court cases because the women working as artistes left the country before being brought to testify while married men who were caught en flagrant refused to testify, fearing it would hurt their marriage and reputation.
Police said they also had difficulties in inspecting the women’s residences because the cabaret owners placed guards at the entrances.
In one case in Limassol, workers were only allowed to go to the supermarket for 20 minutes and were fined £20 if they were late, Charalambous said.
He suggested that artistes who were not willing to testify should be immediately deported and the cabaret prevented from replacing them.
Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said the State Department report had not been exaggerated though the watch list classification was an over-reaction.
Only 2.5 per cent of the women coming to Cyprus were not repatriated, he added.
Charalambous said as many as 300 artistes got married to Cypriots each year and police had difficulty in proving they were marriages of convenience.
He noted that there have been cases of 80- and 90-year-old men wedding 20-year-olds and in one case a man with a long psychiatric history was found to be married with one.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou added that the majority of the marriages were real.
Christou agreed with Theodorou that it was an over-reaction to put Cyprus on the watch list, adding that it was surprising to see that the US had passed judgement on all countries apart from themselves.
“But we’ll view it seriously,” the minister said.
Christou suggested that the fight against the phenomenon should be of a pre-emptive nature – no more permits for such places and all involved should co-operate to make lives difficult for pimps and traffickers.
These women should be encouraged to come forward and the state should offer security and safety, Christou added.
Theodorou said the financial crime-fighting unit should get more involved and start looking into the finances of certain people.
Charalambous added that the unit has been activated in recent days to investigate the owners of cabarets and other prostitution outlets as well as drugs-related cases.
Foreign Ministry representative Poly Ioannou told the committee that countries were not included in the report every time.
She pointed out that the report had a political hue and she expected Cyprus to be in it next year.
“We had early indications that Cyprus would be included and that the slant would be unfavourable,” Ioannou said.
She added that US movements had been detected at various levels, looking for information, while at the final stage the island had been visited by independent academic investigators.
Ioannou suggested that with several measures Cyprus could expect to fair better next year.
Charalambous also informed the committee about other police operations regarding the issue.
He said there had been sweeping arrests of Chinese women involved in prostitution who were immediately deported.
Most arrived on the island as students, Charalambous said.
He also revealed that prostitutes were peddled on the internet for £200 to unsuspecting clients who thought they were getting special treatment because of the high price.
The women were said to be the same as those working in cabarets
