Romanian grooming gang of rapists who prowled streets for vulnerable women jailed

A gang of four men and one woman have been jailed after being found guilty of raping and sexually abusing 10 women in flats across Dundee. Their victims, all aged between 16 and 30, were plied with alcohol and Class A drugs.

At the time, judge Lord Scott told them: “This was an appalling catalogue of rape, serial sexual abuse and exploitation of extremely vulnerable, mostly, young women.” Ringleader Marian Cumpanasoiu – described in court as a “winking, smirking pimp” – along with Cristian Urlateanu, Remus Stan, Cataline Dobre and Alexandra Bugonea were originally due to be sentenced in February but returned to the dock today, Monday.

The Romanian gang was brought to justice as a result of Operation Recloir, launched by detectives after receiving “intelligence suggesting human trafficking and sexual exploitation is ongoing within Dundee”.

Three of the criminals, Urlateanu, Dobre and Bugonea, fled the country but were traced and extradited back to Scotland from Belgium and the Czech Republic.

Jurors in the six-week trial heard harrowing testimony about how the gang preyed on the women, including details of how a 16-year-old girl was sold a “pipe dream” before being raped, trafficked and forced into prostitution.

Cumpanasoiu was convicted of seven rapes, human trafficking, brothel-keeping and dealing in crack cocaine. Urlateanu was convicted of six rapes and human trafficking, while Stan was found guilty of four rapes, and Dobre was found guilty of two rapes.
Bugonea, who admitted having “sex parties” at her flat but insisted there was a “fun atmosphere”, was convicted of one rape and illegal sexual activity with another.

Although the victims were slightly older than the young teenagers targeted by British Pakistani grooming gangs in Rochdale and other towns in England, detectives told The Times the pattern of offending was the same.

James Clarry, chief executive of Justice and Care, a charity tackling modern slavery, told Sky News: “The criminals were prowling the streets of Dundee looking for women who matched the conditions that they knew would make them particularly vulnerable, and then off the back of that, exploited them sexually on a sustained and brutal basis.”

The offenders were arrested and charged after Operation Recloir was launched in 2021 to tackle a suspected human trafficking gang.

While the inquiry initially focused on brothels and Romanian women being trafficked in Dundee, Police Scotland said they received information that the group targeted “vulnerable Dundee females”.

Detective Inspector Scott Carswell said: “And it looked like they were grooming them and coercing them with gifts of free drugs and other things until it moved on to the victims having to get involved in sexual activity to get the free drugs.

“Unfortunately, this got them addicted to the Class A drugs that had been provided.”

The gang has been banned from contacting their victims and have been placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely, in addition to their prison sentences.