Couple Jailed for £734k Brothel & Human Trafficking Ring

Romanian pair exposed after 3-year probe into UK-wide exploitation network forcing women into prostitution, trafficking and brutal modern slavery for huge profits. A three-year covert police operation has concluded with the conviction of a Smethwick couple who ran a nationwide prostitution and human trafficking network involving at least 14 victims. The pair, identified as 46-year-old Luigi Cucu and 37-year-old Costela Soare, were jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting charges linked to the commercial sexual exploitation of women. Officers from West Midlands Police launched the intelligence-led investigation in 2020 after receiving information that women were being advertised online for prostitution and moved through a network of short-term addresses. The court heard that the offending spanned a prolonged five-year window between January 2018 and March 2023, with the couple operating as the controlling force behind what prosecutors described as a lucrative and organised brothel operation.

Following a warrant in March 2023, detectives traced a trafficking route leading back to 2015, when one victim was brought to the UK and transported around multiple cities. She was subjected to physical and verbal abuse, coercive control, denial of medical treatment and forced drug use, which led to substantial drug debts. She was ordered to work for up to 20 hours a day and financially controlled to the point of severe malnourishment. Another victim was found in such a deteriorated condition her bones were visibly protruding. The court was told the couple gained an estimated £734,400 from the sexual exploitation of women, with payments funnelled through the operation as part of a wider pattern of commercial gain and control.

Cucu admitted arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation and controlling prostitution for gain. He was jailed for nine years and seven months. Soare pleaded guilty to controlling prostitution for gain and received three years and two months. Detective Constable Mahadi Hasan described the inquiry as a meticulous exercise in evidence-gathering and safeguarding, adding that the conviction marked the conclusion of a complex investigation into modern slavery offences and the commercial exploitation of vulnerable women.