Polish police free Slovak woman held in Warsaw hotel, four suspects remanded
Polish police secured a 23-year-old Slovak woman detained against her will at a Warsaw hotel after a fake job offer led her across borders, resulting in three-month custody orders for four suspects.
Initial recruitment and transit through Poland
A 23-year-old Slovak citizen seeking employment accepted an offer that promised work in a wholesale warehouse located in Ukraine. After departing Slovakia and arriving at the designated location in Ukraine, the woman discovered that the promised job did not exist. Her associates then presented another proposal for a subsequent journey to a different destination. The planned travel route to that location passed directly through Poland, with Warsaw designated as a temporary stopover along the itinerary. The woman was accommodated at a hotel in the capital's Wawer district, which was framed as a brief pause in the journey. While staying at the hotel, she realized she was deprived of independence and could no longer make decisions regarding her own movements.
Emergency alert and cross-border police coordination
Fearing that she would be taken to an isolated destination from which she could never return, the 23-year-old woman managed to establish contact with her mother to explain her situation. Her mother promptly notified law enforcement authorities in Slovakia about the suspected abduction and forced confinement. Slovak police officers coordinated directly with their Polish counterparts at the Warsaw VII District Police Headquarters to relay the emergency report. Acting on the intelligence, officers from the Wawer police station identified the specific hotel and carried out an entry into the premises to secure the woman. Emergency medical teams (Zespół Ratownictwa Medycznego) attended to the victim on site to provide preventive medical examination and care.
At a certain point, the woman realized that she was no longer independent and could not decide for herself and do what she wanted, she began to seriously fear for her fate, afraid that she would be taken somewhere from which she would not be able to return.
- A 23-year-old Slovak woman accepts a wholesale warehouse job offer in Ukraine.
- With no work available in Ukraine, handlers reroute the woman through a hotel in Warsaw.
- The victim contacts her mother, prompting Slovak police to notify Polish authorities.
- Officers enter the Warsaw-Wawer hotel, free the woman, and detain five men on site.
- A Polish court remands four suspects in pre-trial custody for three months.
Detentions and witness examination
During the operation at the Wawer hotel, Polish police officers detained five men who were present alongside the victim. The detained group consisted of three Slovak nationals and two Ukrainian nationals. Officers conducted an initial evidentiary review to determine the exact degree of involvement of each individual present in the room. Following investigative interviews, detectives questioned one of the Slovak citizens solely in the capacity of a witness before releasing him without charges. The remaining four men were held in custody and transferred to the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw-Praga Południe for formal proceedings.
Criminal charges and court custody orders
The Warsaw-Praga Południe District Prosecutor's Office formally presented criminal charges against the four detained men, identifying them as Slovak citizens aged 52 and 33, alongside Ukrainian citizens aged 45 and 51. The charges cite the unlawful deprivation of liberty of a Slovak citizen for a period exceeding seven days. Under the Polish Penal Code, individuals convicted of this aggravated form of false imprisonment face a prison term of up to 10 years. Prosecutors submitted formal motions requesting pre-trial detention for all four suspects to prevent interference with the investigation. The district court approved the prosecution's applications, remanding all four men into three months of pre-trial custody.
