Four individuals, suspected of aggravated pimping, were arrested in Lyon, we learned this Monday from the Sûreté du Rhône. Aged 23 to 36, they were presented to the prosecutor’s office on Friday for the opening of a judicial investigation. They are suspected of being linked to a prostitution network in which several minors were involved, who offered their charms via Internet sites.
The facts were committed between November 28 and December 31, 2021 in Lyon and its agglomeration. The case broke in January 2022 when an investigation was opened after the disappearance of the two 17-year-old girls who ran away from their home.
Two imprisoned suspects
“The first elements confirmed their presence on Internet sites linked to prostitution,” said the Sûreté du Rhône on Monday. The investigations then made it possible to identify several customers but also four alleged pimps, “including two acting in concert”.
They are accused of having provided accommodation, equipment and means of transport but also of having received part of the money received by the girls at the end of their services.
Two of them were placed in pre-trial detention, the other two under judicial control.