Victorian-era crimes left cop ‘disgusted’
BY STEPHEN STEWART IT WAS a vile crime akin to something from a Charles Dickens novel.
But this wasn’t a fictional tale from Victorian times, this heinous web of human trafficking and sex slavery happened in modern Scotland.
Vojtech Gombar, 61, Anil Wagle, 37, Jana Sandorova, 28, and Ratislav Adam, 31, were brought to justice after a five-year probe that spanned Europe.
Detectives believe the Glasgow victims – poor and vulnerable women brought here to be bought and sold on the streets – may be just the tip of a very large iceberg.
Operation Synapsis, launched in 2014, led to several raids on properties in the Govanhill district of Glasgow.
Police Scotland’s Detective Constable Kirsty Lee, a hardened investigator who helped nail the gang, spoke to the Record and described their crimes as “disgusting”.
She said: “I think it is important that we got a result for these girls. Anyone who can sell another human being, the way you would sell a car or another commodity, is disgusting.
“We try not to get too personally involved in cases but this has been very difficult in this investigation.”
In 2017, properties on the city’s Allison Street, Calder Street and Langside Road were searched by up to 70 officers.
The massive operation involved officials from Europol, Immigration Enforcement, Glasgow City Council along with representatives of Rape Crisis and Glasgow City Council as well as Police Scotland and their counterparts in Slovakia.
Officers had to seek permission from the European Court of Justice in The Hague to launch a joint investigation with the Metropolitan Police and police in Slovakia as part of the operation.
Detective Inspector Steven McMillan of Police Scotland’s specialist crime division said: “Due to the covert nature of human trafficking, there could be more victims out there.”