Major rise in Swedish women being sold for sex - by their own Husbands

Swedish men are pimping out their wives as prostitutes in a bid to earn some extra cash, it has been revealed.

Police in the Scandinavian country have revealed a sharp rise in the number of husbands and boyfriends coercing their wives or girlfriends into selling sex. 

They said that the highly unusual practice occurs outside the organised sex trade, and is often done to supplement the household income. 

One publicised case involves a 45-year-old man, from Västernorrland County, who is awaiting trial for allegedly selling his 25-year-old girlfriend for sex.

The woman claimed she had been forced to sleep with at least 24 men because she owed her partner money. 

But officers estimate the total number of men she serviced was much higher. 

The Swedish police National Operations Department (NOA), who deal with human trafficking and prostitution across Sweden, revealed that people were motivated to be a sex worker for a range of reasons, and not just poverty. 

NOA spokeswoman Kajsa Walberg said: "Rather, they want to live a little more luxurious life, have a debt to pay, or need to buy drugs. 

“This is something we have seen before, but more such cases have been reported in the past two years.”

Sweden’s Migration Board uncovered the worrying trend alongside human trafficking and foreign organised crime networks of prostitution. 

Human trafficking remains a massive issue in the country, with the number of reported cases dramatically rising. 

During the first half of the year 163 suspected cases of human trafficking were reported, compared to 195 cases for the whole of 2015. 

And of the cases this year, half involved sexual slavery, more than 20 were forced labour, 53 victims were children, in 10 cases they were beggars and the remainder were women.