Seventeen people were arrested and another 160 taken in for questioning in a police investigation into a trafficking ring of women (mainly from Russia) who were forced to work in nightclubs or as prostitutes, the Greek police stated.

The police performed major coordinated action in Athens, Lamia, Volos, Larissa, Thessaloniki, Florina and other Greek cities, while, in cooperation with the Russian colleagues, an investigation was also being conducted in Russia, the Greek News Agency ANA reported.

An unnamed officer told the ATA that the criminal ring had under its control around 80 percent of eastern European women exploited by white slave traders in Greece

The criminal group is believed to be led by a forty-year-old owner of a chain of bakeries and nightclubs who is arrested in a similar case two years ago, but was released in 2009.

The American AP Agency noted that prostitution is legalized in Greece, but that it is often related to trafficking of women from east Europe.