Police rescue sex slaves trafficked to Scotland by Chinese gangs

Published on Saturday 9 February 2008 19:11

FOUR Chinese sex slaves who were trafficked into Scotland by 'snakehead' gangsters have been rescued, following a co-ordinated series of raids by police.

The women, in their 20s, were found in two separate properties, after spending thousands of pounds to be smuggled overland to begin a new life in the UK.

Two Chinese males were arrested at the same time and are currently being quizzed on alleged sex and immigration offences.

One police source said yesterday: "This is an excellent result and once again illustrates the insidious extent of the sex trade in Scotland.

"This weekend is the start of Chinese New Year, and for these four girls, the Year of the Rat should be an awful lot happier than recent times that they have endured."

He added: "Girls like these tend to come from very rural and very poor parts of China. They would have been forced to hand over many thousands of pounds to the snakeheads, after being promised jobs here as waitresses, dancers or nannies.

"They then have to endure dreadful conditions as they are trafficked through Central Asia, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, before arriving in Britain without anything, apart from the hollow promise of a new life.

"Unfortunately, the girls who the police rescued are the tip of an iceberg, and there will always be many hundreds of others back in China more than happy to try their luck in Britain."

Friday's raid centred on properties in Union Road, Grangemouth, and Abbeymill, Stirling. It was initiated after locals complained of seeing dozens of men coming and going from the properties at all hours of the day and night.

It was the second such operation mounted by Central Scotland Police in recent weeks, and is part of an ongoing UK-wide crackdown on sex trafficking.

Code-named 'Operation Pentameter 2', the investigation involves all police forces in Britain, as well as the Garda Siochana in Ireland.

The second part of the phase is designed to treat the women involved in the sex trade as victims and not criminals.

The women may have paid up to 20,000 to the snakeheads – the name given to Chinese criminals specialising in human trafficking.

However, instead of simply bringing the girls to the UK and then abandoning them, the gangs have now started handing them over to established Triad gangs, who are heavily involved in organised prostitution.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Central Scotland Police said their inquiries were continuing.

Detective Sergeant Donna Bryans, the senior investigating officer, added: "Information from the public has led directly to these searches. I would thank the community for their assistance and would urge others to remain vigilant to suspicious activity."