A further alleged victim has been identified in connection with a suspected human trafficking and prostitution racket operated in the greater Belfast area, a court has heard.
Police revealed that authorities in Romania have alerted them to a complaint from another woman as part of the international investigation.
Details emerged as a couple accused of involvement in the organised crime scheme were refused permission to spend Christmas together.
Petru Balogh (26) and his 35-year-old girlfriend Flortina Ciurar, both of Hugh Street in Belfast, deny charges of controlling prostitution for gain, brothel keeping, human trafficking and money laundering.
Prosecutors previously disclosed that inquiries began in June last year after a woman informed police she had fled from the pair.
She claimed to have been lured to Northern Ireland from Romania with the bogus offer of a job working for Amazon.
On arrival, however, the woman was allegedly told that she would be working as a prostitute.
Balogh paid for her flight, collected her from the airport and brought her to an address in south Belfast to carry out sex work in order to repay her debt, according to the prosecution.
Police mounted a surveillance operation and located two more suspected prostitutes at the property.
Financial inquiries revealed that large sums of money had passed through a bank account said to be linked to Ciurar and controlled by her partner, it was claimed.
They also allegedly paid for several adverts on adult websites.
Balogh and Ciurar have been on bail since August, with conditions including a prohibition on contact with each other.
At Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday, a detective opposed their joint application to vary those terms.
“Any contact between the two would lead to a risk of further offending,” he said.
The detective also set out a new development in the investigation.
“Police in Romania have identified a further victim in the case,” he added.
Ciurar’s barrister, Sean O’Hare argued that she speaks little English and is struggling under the current restrictions.
“She is finding it difficult living in isolation, this is just to provide some degree of latitude over the Christmas period.
”But denying the application, District Judge Steven Keown ruled: “The bail condition is entirely appropriate and extremely important.”