Gardaí raided a brothel and found Western Union money receipts for €18,000 which were sent back to Romania in a three-week period.
The receipts were found in an apartment raided by the Garda in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
Two young women appeared in court on Friday charged with operating a brothel at the apartment complex at Justice Walsh Road on January 19th.
Gardaí told Letterkenny District Court they found €600 in cash and Western Union money receipts for €18,000, which had been sent to Romania over a three-week period after Christmas.
There was also a man on the premises, whom gardaí believed had paid for sex when they raided the premises at about 7.30pm.
The court heard that both women, Sirin Abdollah (23) and Sefania Manea (21), had admitted to operating a brothel and advertising their services on a website.
Gardaí said they were satisfied the women were not under pressure and were operating the brothel of their own free will.
Solicitor for the women Patsy Gallagher said they had come to Ireland knowing that money was to be made through prostitution. He said both women were sending money back to their families in Romania as they would only earn an average of €250 per month there.
Private school
Ms Abdollah had one child who was in private school in Romania and she was sending money back to educate her although her family did not know how she was making a living, said her solicitor.
Mr Gallagher said both women had given him an assurance that they would leave the country within 48 hours.
He asked if some cash from the €600 seized by gardaí in the apartment could be used for flight tickets for the women.
Judge Paul Kelly refused the application. “I am not doing that. This is the first time we have been given an indication of the type of money being sent back and it is substantial. Let them get on to their families in Romania and get the price of a ticket back,” he said.
He fined each woman €250 and ordered that the seized cash be forfeited to the State.