Newspaper Busts Prostitution Ring

While some people in the US or UK complain that the media does little in the name of justice anymore, in Riga there are still some journalists with integrity - at least the journalist that helped local police bust an underage prostitution ring in the city.

The journalist, a writer for the Latvijas Avize newspaper, worked together with the local police and the Latvian Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (ONAP) to bring down a service offering sex with underage girls and boys, some as young as 14, for prices between 500 and 1000 Euros. The reporter was led to the service through an advertisement found in a Russian-language Latvian website, which included the names and contact information of the people running the service. The journalist decided to investigate the offers, and set up a meeting with one of the go-betweens, in which he arranged to pay for a 16 year-old girl in Riga. Of course, unbeknownst to the ringleaders, the journalist then informed the national police, and waiting for the leaders of the prostitution ring and the girl was not a willing client, but several police officers. They were arrested on the spot. One can only hope that this experience has put a dent in Riga's sex crime problems.