The police gave the green light to the sex bars and brothels that operate legally and where the sex workers are safe. However, there are still a lot of persons who try to cheat the system and use to exploit vulnerable women.

These illegal brothels are popping up at a fast rate and the authorities are puzzled regarding this phenomenon. Read the article below if you want to find out why Linz is targeted by the police officers.

The Linz Police Department triggered a major action against unauthorized brothels

In the last period, there was a huge explosion of online advertising. A lot of escorts are trying to promote their sexual services online. We all know that buying or selling sex is not forbidden. The problems appear when this activity is closely related to human trafficking and exploitation.

• Read our article about the Court case of FKK Paradise in Stuttgart: Court case of FKK Paradise in Stuttgart ends

The Linz police department started an intense action with the purpose to identify all the brothels that are running illegally. A lot of brothels in different apartments across Linz have been discovered. Almost every two weeks, an unauthorized brothel was identified and closed.

The Linz police department discovered that some women who were working in those illegal brothels were forced to take drugs. Another negative part of this story is that a lot of minors were constrained to work in the sex industry. The majority of the persons who were offering their sexual services were from Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. (SexTopLists wrote a very good article about Sexworking Nationalities in Vienna, it is worth to read!)

The apartments were rented through Airbnb

The investigators declared the apartments used as illegal brothels were rented through Airbnb. These locations were quickly changed to be harder for the police to track them down.

Because a lot of illegal brothels were operating in apartments rented via Airbnb, the company’s representatives stated they will take all the necessary measures in order to prevent “pop-up brothels” at its rental properties. The rental company will also train its employees to create new systems and cooperate with the police to identify signs of slavery.

Conclusion

Prostitution has become a hotly debated topic. Some persons consider the authorities should have zero tolerance and convict all those who are responsible. On the other hand, there are people who say the police should make a difference between the businesses that are operating illegally and the ones that are respecting the current regulations.

We tried to summarize all the information regarding police action in Linz, but you can read more in Kronen Zeitung and The Telegraph.