People accused of 'controlling prostitution' are set to have cases sent to Crown Court

Florin Ripan (52), Ionut Duta (27) and Ondina Cordovan (21) with addresses listed as in Ballymena - are charged with 'controlling' a Romanian woman's 'prostitution'; using 'criminal property, namely money'; concealing 'criminal property - cash'; and entering into an arrangement to acquire criminal property.

Cordovan is also charged with 'brothel keeping'; possessing criminal property and possession of cannabis.

A fourth person - Gabriel Manuel Orhean (32), with an address given as Maghaberry Prison - is also charged in connection with the case but his case was not mentioned when the other three appeared at Ballymena Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

Orhean's case is listed for February 20.

The charges are connected to an investigation by detectives from the PSNI's Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit.

Arrests were made following searches in Ballymena and Omagh on August 13 last year.

A detective constable told an earlier court a "pro-active" investigation lead by the PSNI's Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit focused "on the activities of an organised crime gang involved in prostitution and money laundering offences".

A police officer said a female travelled from Romania and was "initiated into sex work" in June 2023 in the Omagh area.

The officer said a correspondence address for an "adult services website profile link is a Ballymena address" at which Orhean had resided.

The officer said a bank account "belonging to the victim" was registered to Orhean's Ballymena address.

The court heard Orhean had been arrested the day before he was due to be "flown out" to Romania as part of extradition proceedings.