Struga, Macedonia
A top suspect in human trafficking escaped from police custody this week, dealing a blow to Macedonia’s efforts to stamp out the trade in women and girls in the Balkans. Bojku Dilaver was being transferred from a jail in his hometown of Struga to a nearby high-security prison when he broke away from his captors and leapt into a waiting car. Dilaver is accused of transporting dozens, if not hundreds, of young women from Romania and Ukraine to Balkan countries, confiscating their passports, and forcing them to work as prostitutes. Attempts over the past decade to convict him on similar offenses always failed; he was widely believed to have bribed judges and police officers. Police could not explain why Dilaver was not handcuffed during his transfer.
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