– They were very many – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
As NRK has previously mentioned, the police in Oslo know the identities of hundreds of people who have bought sex at the brothel in the city center.
Many have been fined, and the police are now considering fining more.
Customers paid either in cash or with Vipps. The form of payment may have helped to reveal them.
Buying sex from adults is normally punished with a fine of 25,000 kroner, according to lawyer NRK has been in contact with.
NRK has spoken to a former customer at the brothel in Oslo. He wants to remain anonymous, but NRK knows his identity.
Surprised by the size
The customer visited the brothel for the first time around New Year this year. Since then he has been there several times.
At first he was surprised at how big the brothel was.
– They were very many. Maybe it was to the floors and more rooms.
Each time he had to go through a separate website and the so-called operators of the network. They gave him the address, and booked an appointment with the brothel.
– It is quick to agree on a time, it did not take more than five minutes.
Payment was always made in advance. 2000 kroner was the fixed price for the customer NRK has spoken to. He mostly paid with Vipps, but says he could also pay in cash.
Police have seized a million in cash, as well as luxury cars and entire properties. They are also on digital tracks that can help identify sex customers, police lawyer Jens Andenæs has told NRK.
The customer did not think in advance that the form of payment could reveal his identity. He does not want to be fined. So far he has not heard from the police.
Was in several apartments
Through the investigation, it has emerged that the network operated in several places in Norway. The customer NRK has spoken to was never anywhere else himself, but knows that several of the girls were.
– They have many apartments, not only in Oslo. Sometimes the same woman goes to other apartments, he says.
At the same time, the customer was never in the same room in the apartment building in Oslo.
– I was always in different apartments in the same apartment building.
Central location important for sales
Simon Häggström is a police inspector in the Stockholm police. He is an expert on prostitution and human trafficking, and was involved in uncovering a large prostitution network in Sweden.
He has followed the Norwegian case. It began to roll after he tipped off Norwegian police about several Eastern European women who were transported to Norway via Sweden.
He says the brothels depend on being centrally located in big cities to make money.
– Turnover will be higher if you are central, and not out in the suburbs. Then you lose many customers, says Häggström to NRK.
In Sweden, many of the women worked and lived in the Old Town in Stockholm, a good area in the center of the city.
Häggström is therefore not surprised to see an entire apartment building filled with prostitutes just a few hundred meters away from the Norwegian castle and the Storting.
So far, eight people have been charged with pimping in the Norwegian case. Four of them are also charged with human trafficking. All four deny criminal guilt for this point.
A Norwegian-Ukrainian couple are described as the main characters in the network. The man in his 30s from Norway married the Ukrainian woman in her 50s a few years ago.