A woman in Moscow has been detained for allegedly trying to sell into sexual slavery two girls she befriended online, investigators said.
The 28-year-old woman is accused of having gained the trust of the girls — who were born in 1997 and 1998, making them between 15 and 17 years of age — and then offering them for sale as sex slaves, the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee said Friday in an online statement.
The potential buyers had allegedly assured the woman that her involvement would never be revealed because the girls would be chained in a basement and exploited for sex, the statement said.
When meeting last week with a man she thought was a potential buyer but who was actually working undercover for police, the woman demanded 1.5 million rubles ($37,000) for each of the girls, but then agreed to bring the price down to 900,000 rubles ($22,000), the Investigative Committee said.
The woman was detained after the money exchanged hands, the statement said.
She is under investigation for "human trafficking committed against two minors" — a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
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