Ringleaders forced hundreds of Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan, Belorussian, and Uzbek women into prostitution in an operation that reached as far as England, Belgium, and Cyprus.
At the end of a two-year international investigation, the suspects were arrested in 2009 along with over 20 suspects in several other countries. The convicted ringleader, Rami Saban, a 37-year-old resident of Magadim, was previously under investigation for alleged involvement in bringing hired killers from Belarus to assassinate leading Israeli underworld figure Nissim Alperon.