Fury as Met's human trafficking unit to close after funds run out

Published on Tuesday 11 November 2008 00:04

A SPECIALIST police human trafficking unit will close next year due to a lack of money, Scotland Yard said yesterday.

Home Office funding for the Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Team will end in April. The unit – the UK's only specialist operational anti-trafficking team – has secured a string of convictions, including those last week of a gang of brothel owners and sex-traffickers.

Eleven men were given sentences of up to 14 years for luring a 16-year-old Slovakian girl into sex slavery. After the case, the Home Office said combating human trafficking was a "key government priority".

The unit was given a fanfare launch in March last year and no mention was made of any time limit to funding.

A spokesman for the Met said: "The Met's Human Trafficking Team was launched in March 2007 as a result of being fully funded by money from the Home Office Reflex project.

"Although this money to keep this team in its current format will no longer be available from April 2009, our commitment remains to tackling those involved in these highly-illegal trades."

News of the impending closure drew criticism from charities. Christine Beddoe, director of End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking UK (Ecpat UK) said: "Human trafficking requires a specialist operational response and we can't understand why this decision has been made. This team is so important from a UK policing perspective because London is a gateway to the country.

"The government has said they are committed to tackling and without a specialist team we are putting at risk women and children who are the victims of trafficking."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Combating human trafficking is a key government priority. Our aim is to make the UK a hostile environment for trafficking and to protect victims from this abhorrent crime.

"We have provided 30 million to the forces since 2003 to help tackle organised immigration crime and human trafficking. We have made it clear that trafficking should be core police business and a high priority, and the Home Office is continuing to support forces' efforts, notably through funding the UK Human Trafficking Centre with 1.7 million this year."