PODGORICA (Montenegro), Jan 9 — Montenegrin police have arrested eight people accused of running a human trafficking ring suspected of ensnaring scores of Taiwanese victims, authorities said today.

A total of 93 Taiwanese nationals were found in the tiny Balkan state yesterday, police said in a statement.

"Their movement was limited, their passports were taken away and it is suspected that they were held against their will,” the statement said.

Montenegro is under pressure from the European Union to rein in human trafficking and other organised crime to make progress on its bid to join the bloc.

At least 12 of the Taiwanese victims have been identified as trafficking victims while police are still investigating the others, the statement added.

Police said they were unable to provide further details about the victims, suspects, or the nature of the trafficking while the probe is going on.

The crackdown was carried out in cooperation with Taiwanese authorities, the statement said.

The country has for three years been on the US State Department’s "Tier 2 watch list” for failing to make more progress on rooting out trafficking that lures victims into the sex industry, hospitality work and forced begging on the streets.

Most victims hail from inside Montenegro or neighbouring Balkan states, according to the US State Department’s 2019 trafficking report. — AFP