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Human trafficking in Bulgaria intensified three times between 2005 and 2012, a human rights foundation estimates.
Data provided by the Gender Alternatives Foundation reveals there are 221 Bulgarian victims of human trafficking in 2005 and 684 seven years later, Milena Kadieva, a lawyer working at the foundation, was quoted by the website Dariknews.bg as saying.
Apart from sexual exploitation, labor exploitation has also turned into a major aim of traffickers, Kadieva argued.
She noted not only women, but also men fell victim to trafficking.
The lawyer cited figures of the EU's statistical body Eurostat showing Bulgaria is currently ranking third among the 28 member states in terms of the number of people smuggled across the country's borders.