The alleged capo of a gang , Aleksandr Koval, nicknamed „Shalun”, was sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment for trafficking children with the purpose of sexual exploitation, procurement, human being trafficking, illegal holding of weapons ammunitions and usage of forged documents. Other four members of the group got sentences from 4 to 20.5 years of jail. The decision was taken on Friday, May 23, by the Chisinau Court of Appeal and may be appealed at a higher court, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office. The court gave the verdict, after the prosecutors tried to prove that, during the period 2001 – 2006, the accused would allegedly have created a criminal gang, operating on the territory of Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, conducting an ample network trafficking human beings and procuring. According to the prosecutors, recruiting the victims for sexual exploitation used to be done on the entire territory of Moldova, preponderantly in Transnistria. Then, the victims used to be taken to Chisinau and lodged in houses and apartments,specially outfitted. All in all the police identified and arrested 24 young women (11 minors) providing sexual services, two of which were from Ukraine. Concomitantly, during the same time, Shalun would allegedly have led a criminal gang doing the same type activities in Romania. The penal inquest was led by the General Prosecutor's office, as the case was sent to the court in December, 2006.