Our exclusive news stories and investigations. Why join? Watch our founder Lisbeth Kirk explain the reasons in this second video. Already a member? Login here. Luludja works the streets in Frejus, a town on the Mediterranean coast in France.
The holiday resort is not too far from Saint-Tropez, where the rich go to have their holidays amidst their yachts. The summer sees hundreds of thousands of tourists flocking into the seaside resort. That is when dozens of Bulgarian Roma prostitute themselves on the streets.
Luludja came to western Europe from Central Bulgaria four years ago. But she does not want to give her full name. That is the most important thing at this point. The morning after her flower tour along the bars in the old town, she is in a muddy meadow in Frejus where she and her husband Daniel live in a trailer between piles of junk and rotting garbage. Her mouth contracts and her face tightens when she is asked how exactly she got to France. After a while her husband Daniel — his hair neatly gelled back, polished leather shoes on his feet — starts talking, hesitantly.
He says a man in their slum near Plowdiw offered to drive them. They just have to be able to afford the trip. Or get into debt with a driver. Plowdiw is about one hundred kilometres from the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. But everyone knows it is the territory of King Kiro. He is one of the people making a living from the misery of thousands of Roma who migrate to western Europe. He has built up a network of drivers, who sometimes work as traffickers too.
The allegations are documented in Italian police reports. Whenever Roma children steal something in Italy, when houses are torn down in France or when women prostitute themselves in the Ruhr, King Kiro will be banking part of the money. His official name is Kiril Rashkov.
