Polish Prostitution
The tattoos were rewards for loyalty.

A gang of pimps running a brothel in Poland had the prostitutes working for them tattooed, to mark them as their property.

Following a raid on the gang's brothel in Gdansk, north-east Poland, several of the women were found to have tattoos emblazoned across their torsos in recognition of their loyalty to their pimps.

One woman had the words 'faithful b**** of Leszek' tattooed down the side of her body.

Polish Prostitution
One prostitute had the names of her pimps tattooed on her back.

She also had another down the length of her leg, declaring her loyalty to her pimp which read: "I love my Lord and Master, property of Leszek"

A second prostitute had the words to Bryan Adams' Please Forgive Me etched across her back, with the name of her 'owners' written underneath.

The Polish gang told officers all their tattooed girls had willingly worked for them and volunteered to have the tattoo as a 'sign of loyalty'.

A spokesman for the prosecution, Mariusz Marciniak said: "Many of the women they were using were forced into the business but at the moment we don't have any evidence that those that were tattooed were forced to undergo the procedure under duress."

Three brothers - Leszek Baranowski, 26, Pawel, 34, and Olek, 31 - were arrested along with 21 other men who are alleged to have run the brothel with 70 girls, most of whom who were forced into prostitution.

The men are believed to have made over £1million off the women over four years.

It has been common practice among pimps in the U.S. to tattoo the prostitutes who work for them to indicate their 'ownership'.