Cork gardaí charge two men in international human-trafficking investigation
Marian Vavrek faces three counts of human trafficking and one count of money-laundering.
Two men have appeared in court charged in connection with an investigation into an international human trafficking and money-laundering operation.
32-year-old Ladislav Bubencik of Railway Road, Charleville, Co Cork, and 46-year-old Marian Vavrek, 5 Kontiki, Rooskey, Co Roscommon, appeared before Judge John King at Midleton District Court on Thursday morning.
They were both charged with three counts of human trafficking involving three male victims in 2021.
Mr Vavrek has also been charged with one count of money-laundering while Mr Bubencik, a married father of two children, has been charged with 20 counts of money-laundering.
Gardaí told the court that people are being brought into Ireland for labour exploitation, with reports of them having their travel documents taken from them and their employment payments withheld from them. Gardaí also alleged that victims are living in shared and overcrowded rooms.
The court heard that there was evidence of travel arrangements for the three injured parties having been organised through social media, while there is CCTV evidence of them being collected at Dublin Airport.
Detective Garda Shane O’Donoghue said one of the injured parties in the case had been contacted through Facebook messenger. He was promised employment in Ireland, as well as accommodation.
Det. Gda O’Donoghue said that the injured party “had no English and gardaí considered him a very vulnerable person”. He said that conditions in his accommodation were “poor”, adding: “He didn’t have enough food at times”.
He was living in a property near Churchtown in north Cork, while the other two injured parties were collected at Dublin Airport and brought to accommodation near Buttevant.
Det. Gda O’Donoghue said that six financial accounts have been analysed forensically as part of the investigation, including personal and business accounts linked to Mr Bubencik. This included an account for a recruitment firm operated by Mr Bubencik, called L&B Recruitment.
Gardaí alleged that the firm is “trying to be the legitimate face of the human-trafficking operation”. The two men have both denied the charges put to them.
Gardaí opposed bail on the grounds of concerns of possible interference of injured parties.
However, Mr Bubencik’s solicitor, Charlie O’Connor, said his client is married with two children who are attending primary school in Charleville. He said Mr Bubencik has lived in Ireland for over 12 years.
Members of his family were in court, while supporters of Mr Vavrek were also in attendance.
Both men were remanded in custody with consent to bail on their own bond of €600 each, plus an independent surety of €20,000.
Among their conditions will be that they must sign on twice daily at a nominated garda station; have no direct or indirect contact with alleged injured parties, and surrender their passports and/or other travel documents to gardaí prior to their release and not to apply for replacement or duplicate travel documents.
They are due before Mallow District Court on Tuesday, March 12, via video link.
A third man, also in his 30s, has been released without charge. A file will now be prepared for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The men were arrested during a major garda operation in Cork and Roscommon involving over 100 officers.
The operation was led by specialist officers in Cork, assisted by divisional colleagues, as well as officers from six national units, including human trafficking, economic crime and cybercrime bureaus.
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