Bern justice system deals with major human trafficking case
Keystone-SDA
A three-year human trafficking investigation in Switzerland, involving sex workers from China, has resulted in five suspects being charged with offences.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
A total of 146 victims were identified, according to a statement issued by the Bern cantonal public prosecutor’s office. This is likely to be one of the largest cases in the country.
The case has provoked politicians and the judiciary to call for a more effective legal basis and a relaxation of data sharing.
Investigators in such complex cases repeatedly come up against barriers, said Bern’s Director of Security Philippe Müller. He referred in particular to strict data protection regulations that often make exchange with foreign authorities easier than across cantonal borders.
More
More
Swiss centre records almost 300 victims of human trafficking
This content was published on
May 19, 2025
Last year, 208 victims contacted the specialist unit FIZ Advocacy and Support for Migrant Women and Victims of Trafficking. For 59 others, an examination is still underway.
Read more: Swiss centre records almost 300 victims of human trafficking
Recruited in online chats
In the meantime, the investigation has been concluded and the public prosecutor’s office has brought charges. The investigation began in spring 2022 with a large-scale operation. Five accused persons were stopped and six victims were identified.
In the course of the investigation, police came across 146 female victims, most of whom were Chinese nationals. They were recruited by the accused on Chinese online chats for sex work in Switzerland. It is likely that they recruited women who corresponded to their ideal appearance, age and weight.
After entering the country, the suspects accommodated the victims in private flats and flats and organised the sex work. According to the police, a large number of the victims are said to have received forged identity documents years ago from a professionally organised group of perpetrators in order to be able to move freely in Europe.
Three men and two women
Three men and two women aged between 30 and 53 must answer to the Bernese judiciary. They are accused of having dictated the women’s prostitution activities. The victims had to hand over half of their earnings.
The accused are charged with offences such as human trafficking and promoting prostitution. They were also charged with offences such as money laundering, forgery of documents and unlawful receipt of social welfare benefits.
More
More
Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring
This content was published on
May 19, 2025
Bern cantonal police have smashed a major human trafficking ring. Five people are accused of luring over 100 Chinese women to Switzerland to exploit them as sex workers.
Read more: Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
Articles in this story
