Conflict Incident Report

BEIRUT: A police raid overnight Friday resulted in the arrest of more than 60 people suspected of being members of a Metn-based prostitution ring, a statement released by the Internal Security Forces said over the weekend. ISF’s Human Trafficking and Moral Protection Bureau at the Judicial Police conducted the raid at around midnight Friday in Metn’s Mkalles, detaining 63 men and women, including a man purported to be the network’s ringleader.

The group was using the raided nightclub as a location to meet with customers, the ISF statement, released Saturday, said. The presumed leader of the ring, a Lebanese national identified as R.N., presided over 50 women who were routinely made available to paying customers, the statement said. Twelve other men were also reportedly arrested.

The ISF said that R.N., 35, has a prior record of similar offenses, and that the network’s members have been communicating with clients via WhatsApp and YouChat.

“All of the women were Ethiopian and most of them had fled their employer’s houses [as domestic workers] and were working in prostitution in return for money for the network’s benefit,” the statement said. “They meet with clients via [online] platforms and they set a date to meet at the club in order to go out together later.”

Investigations by the relevant authorities are ongoing. All suspects have been referred to the judiciary for questioning.

It is not uncommon for the ISF to break up prostitution rings in areas across Lebanon. The involvement of foreign nationals is also not atypical.