Bulgaria ranks third in Europe after Russia and Ukraine in the number of citizens who fall prey to human trafficking for sexual exploitation, the Sofia News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Dobromir Dochev, Head of the Human Trafficking Sector of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, told a roundtable discussion on human trafficking on Tuesday in Sofia that some Bulgarian cities, such as Sliven, Pazardzhik, Varna and Burgas, carried more risks with human trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Some 80 per cent of the human trafficking victims in Europe, or about 1.5 million in number, are women.
According to data presented to the roundtable discussion, the organized crime of human trafficking in Bulgaria turns out to be the second most active in Europe, only after Albania.
Bulgaria's Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hristo Manchev said that 193 cases of human trafficking had been investigated into in the first 10 months of 2008, with 44 criminals convicted and sentenced to jail.
However, Manchev pointed out that the prosecutors often faced great difficulties in human trafficking cases, due to the victims' unwillingness to testify against their abusers out of fear.