Murder, gun running and ‘witchcraft’ – Europe’s most wanted women revealed

The EU's crime agency Europol has released a list of the most wanted women alongside the crimes they have committed.

Of the 21 fugitives put together by the "Crime has no gender" campaign, 18 are women and three are men.

They are convicted or accused of crimes including murder, people smuggling, robbery, drugs trafficking and serious fraud by countries across Europe, Liverpool Echo reports.

The website features images of the fugitives covered with masks that fall away to reveal their identities as users scroll down.

The agency said with this campaign it wanted to highlight that women are as capable as men of carrying out serious crimes.

Europol spokeswoman Tine Hollevoet said: "People think that usually these crimes are not being committed by women, but they are and they are equally as serious as those committed by men.

"[When] a viewer scrolls [on the Europol website], the face of the wanted fugitive is revealed and they will be able to see if it's a man or a woman.

"The idea is to attract as many visitors as possible, with experience showing us that the more eyes that look at the wanted fugitives, the higher the chance to locate and arrest the wanted person'."

Elisabeth Gertrude Skarits (63) – Wanted by Austria

 

Skarits is suspected of at least 12 cases of serious fraud in the real estate and rental sector, while she worked as managing director of a property management company.

In this fraud case, the victims, both private citizens and companies, were deprived of £3.60 million (€4.2 million).

The Austrian national's last known location is a hotel in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria between June and August 2011.

Hilde Van Acker (56) – Wanted by Belgium

 

On May 23, 1996, British businessman Marcus John Mitchell was murdered in the Belgian coastal town of De Haan.

The fugitive and her partner Jean-Claude Lacote, 53, were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by the Court in Bruges.

Both of them are on the run.

Radina Stancheva Zhecheva (51) – Wanted by Bulgaria

 

The Bulgarian national committed frauds between 2010 and 2011 by making false promises for jobs in Bulgaria and abroad.

She acted as an unofficial broker by using forged documents.

Zhecheva was sentenced to five years in prison for 10 acts of fraud in 2018.

Zorka Rogiс́ (28) – Wanted by Croatia

 

The Croatian national, who has been on the run since 2014, had illicit drugs in her apartment which were intended to be sold on to another person.

She also had illegal ammunition in her property.

Iveta Tancošová (52) – Wanted by Czech Republic

 

In August 2010, a young girl was lured to England under the pretence that she would work as a nurse.

After her arrival, her passport was taken and she was forced to work as a prostitute.

Because the girl refused, she was beaten and locked in a room where she had to provide sexual services to dozens of clients per day.

She was forced to work 7 days a week for several months.

When she refused, she suffered more physical abuse.

In January 2011, the victim was sold as a prostitute to relatives of the fugitive in Ireland.

Tancošova was sentenced to 7.5 years of imprisonment but she is still on the run.

Kristi Amberg (30) – Wanted by Estonia

Amberg was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison after being convicted of trafficking large quantities of narcotics through a large network of dealers.

From July to September 2017, they bought and sold 10 to 15 grams of amphetamines every two days, one to 10 grams cocaine and 50 ml of GHB every week.

Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Jessica Esohe Edosomwan – Wanted by France

Wanted by French authorities, Edosomwan is alleged to have been part of a gang of people smugglers who used a form of witchcraft known as "juju" to force young Nigerian girls into prostitution.

Operating in every major French city the gang housed in the girls in terrible conditions, charging them exorbitant rents, it is claimed.

The victims, who were run by an older woman known as "la Mama", were then prostituted on the streets.

The money they made was then sent back to Nigeria through an informal payment system known as "hawala".

Edosomwan has been on the run since 2017 and could be in France, Belgium or Germany.

Her trial will take place in November 2019.

Ildikó Dudás (31) – Wanted by Hungary

The 31-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison for selling amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine in nightclubs around Lake Balaton between 2011 and 2012.

Dudas and her partner often took along their young children while they were dealing.

Olivera Pertrovic Ristic (36) – Wanted by Italy

 

Ristic is accused of the murder of 75-year-old Italian man during a botched robbery at his home in December 2017.

The victim was tied to a chair by his wrists, beaten and strangled while Ristic, a Serb, and her accomplices demanded to know where his money and jewellery were hidden, it's alleged.

The gang also attempted to suffocate the victim's 94-year-old mother.

Angelina Sacjuka (20) – Wanted by Latvia

 

In the early hours of October 20, in Riga, Latvia, Sacjuka and an accomplice beat a woman to death.

The victim was punched and kicked repeatedly, breaking nearly all her ribs.

The injuries caused lethal damage to her vital organs.

Following the attack Sacjuka, 20, and her accomplice tried to cover the body with leaves.

She was sentenced to 3 years, 11 months and 28 days but remains at large.

Adilet Shakirgazieva (31) – Wanted by Malta

 

The 31-year-old Kazakh is wanted for a series of thefts in Malta in 2014.

Alongside four men she is alleged to have broken into numerous apartments and stolen cash and jewellery.

Shakirgazieva was the only female member of this criminal group.

She was arrested in September 2015, appeared in court and remanded into custody.

Elizabeth Dizon Honrada (57) – Wanted by The Netherlands

 

The wanted fugitive is convicted of smuggling dozens of kilograms of cocaine from Suriname to the Netherlands.

She is thought to be hiding in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but she also has family in The Netherlands.

Dorota Kaźmierska (44) – Wanted by Poland

Kazmierska is wanted by Polish police for the fatal shooting of her husband in January 2008.

The 44-year-old is accused of shooting him to the head with a Walter P99 semi-automatic pistol.

An award of £2,003 (€2,330) is on offer for information leading to her conviction.

Ildiko Enderle (43) – Wanted by Romania

 

The Romanian national is a member of a criminal group that recruited young Romanian girls (including minors) and promised them a job, food and accommodation in Germany.

The girls were instead transported to the Czech Republic and forced to have sexual relations with clients.

Enderle has four open arrest warrants against her issued by different courts in Romania.

Renáta Lorinc (46) – Wanted by Slovakia

 

Lorinc is wanted for stealing money from the accounts of her clients while employed at a bank.

In total she swindled £39,706 (€46,179).

She was found guilty in her absence in January for fraud and the unlawful manufacturing and enjoyment of payment means, electronic money or other payment card.

She is thought to be residing in Connecticut, the United States.

Melanija Stropnik (59) – Wanted by Slovenia

 

Stropnik is suspected of committing several cases of fraud between 2000 and 2001.

Slovenian police say that between November 2000 and July 2001 in Ljubljana Stropnik 'seduced and defrauded' her victim, persuading him to give her £161,649 (€188,000) under the false claim she was going to invest it in her company.

The Slovenian national is also suspected of another case of fraud regarding expensive plane tickets to Uganda.

Elena Puzyrevich (39) – Wanted by Spain

 

Between 2007 and 2008 Puzyrevich ran a brothel in Caceres in Spain, in which nine young women from Russia were forced to work as prostitutes.

The 39-year-old sometimes met the girls herself when they landed at Barajas airport from where they were taken straight to the club.

Many of the girls were deceived about the type of work they would be doing in Spain and were made to pay off the debts they incurred travelling to the country.

One girl jumped out of a window in an attempt to escape and was hospitalised.

Monika Rafaelova (46) – Wanted by Sweden

 

The Czech national repeatedly committed aggravated theft against women in supermarkets and shopping centres together with other perpetrators in various locations throughout Sweden in 2017.

They stole their victims’ bags and/or wallets, which in most cases were lying in shopping trolleys.

After stealing their wallets, Monika Rafaelova would occasionally withdraw money from the victims’ accounts.

Dr Marian Duggan, an expert in gender and criminology at the University of Kent, told the BBC the stereotype of men being more likely to perpetrate serious crime exists because it is true.

"Obviously all crimes can be committed of anybody of any gender," Dr Duggan said.

"But while some women do commit serious crimes, they do so far less frequently than men."

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