Internal Security Forces arrested members of a gang that lured women working in prostitution to hotels, detained them, and extorted their operators for sums between $500 and $1,500 to secure their release.
The Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces said on Tuesday that it had identified and arrested members of a criminal network operating in the Metn and Kesrouan regions and parts of Mount Lebanon. The gang engaged in facilitating prostitution, kidnapping women in the trade, and extorting those who employed them in exchange for their release.
A patrol arrested two men on 23 July in the Mansouriya neighbourhood while they sat in a beige Kia sedan, which was impounded. The men resisted the patrol, prompting officers to use necessary force to detain them. One man, born in 1984, is a repeat offender wanted under judicial warrants. A second man, born in 1982, was also arrested.
During questioning, the first man confessed to working with others to facilitate prostitution and transport women to hotels for several individuals. He admitted to firing military weapons. The second man said he knew of the first man's activities transporting women and had accompanied him on several occasions, but denied involvement in kidnappings or extortion. Both men confessed to using drugs, specifically a substance called crack cocaine.
A third man, born in 1994, confessed during interrogation to working with others to extort money from operators of rival prostitution networks across Mount Lebanon. The gang would lure women employed by competing networks by falsely promising them clients. When the women arrived at the hotel rendezvous point, gang members would stop their vehicle, seize the woman's phone, and demand the driver contact her employer to report that she was being held until a payment of between $500 and $1,500 was delivered.
Women were detained in buildings and hotels across the Hazmieh, Mansouriya, Tabarja, Jounieh, Ghazir, Ain al-Rammaneh, al-Shiyah, the southern suburb, al-Zalka, and Antelias.
Those arrested were referred to the competent judicial authority and remanded into custody along with the impounded vehicle on the instruction of a judge. The Information Branch said it is continuing operations to apprehend other members of the network.
