DUSHANBE, October 24, Asia-Plus  -- Over the first nine months of this year, 99 persons have been detained in Tajikistan on suspicion of pandering and maintaining houses of prostitution, Rajabali Mahmadaliyev, the chief of the Interior Ministry directorate for combating organized crime, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe  on October 23.  

According to him, a large number of local young women involved in commercial sex have been revealed over the report period, but under the present legislation only administrative measures could be introduced against them.    

“In Dushanbe alone, more than 1,000 women involved in prostitution have been detained and sent for medical examination to the Republican Dermatovenerologic Dispensary,” Mahmadaliyev said, naming insufficient upbringing in family and unemployment of youth as main factors that contribute to spread of prostitution.  

Besides, trafficking in young women from and through the country is also a problem.  Victims commonly were recruited through false promises of employment.  Traffickers generally transported victims to the Middle East, Russia and other former Soviet Union countries. 

“Over the report period, 13 human trafficking cases have been registered,” said Mahmadaliyev, “18 active organizers of sex trafficking have been detained over the same nine-month period and criminal proceedings have been instituted against them.” However, they were released under the amnesty law adopted this year.