Crackdown on modern slavery identifies 91 victims and leads to 73 arrests

A two-week crackdown on modern slavery and human trafficking has identified more than 90 possible victims.

The fortnight of law enforcement activity also led to the arrests of 73 people.

Led by the National Crime Agency’s Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit, the crackdown in September involved 37 police forces from across the UK, as well as other partners including Border Force and Immigration Enforcement.

It was the latest part of Project Aidant, the NCA-led law enforcement response to modern slavery and human trafficking.

Of the 73 arrests, 24 were for modern slavery offences, 19 were for controlling prostitution, while the rest were for a variety of offences including conspiracy to rape, money laundering and immigration offences.

The operation focused on the use of adult services websites (ASWs) by traffickers to advertise victims of sexual exploitation, with at least 16 forces identifying potential victims on ASWs.

Throughout the fortnight, a total of 91 potential victims were identified.

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Although it is difficult to estimate the scale modern slavery in the UK remains very difficult, the NCA believes there are likely to be tens of thousands of victims.

Around 950 criminal investigations are currently under way into modern slavery and human trafficking across the UK – up from 300 in August 2017.

NCA deputy director Tom Dowdall said: “This activity, which was months in the planning, aimed to identify and safeguard victims of sexual exploitation and arrest and disrupt their traffickers.

“As a result of this and the NCA’s wider work we have supported police forces and law enforcement partners to better identify victims of sexual exploitation who are being advertised on the internet.

“This has led to the results we are releasing today – with numerous offenders identified and disrupted as well as potential victims protected.”

While most adverts on ASWs do not relate to trafficked victims, NCA experts believe those involved in exploitation use the volume of adverts on those platforms to hide their criminal operations.

Mr Dowdall added: “We know from sex workers who are not being exploited that ASWs provide safety benefits as they are able to vet customers and avoid those with a history of abuse or violence.

“However we recognise that ASWs also provide offenders with the ability to easily advertise multiple victims, increase the amount of sexual services victims are forced to provide, and maximise criminal profits. Our focus is therefore on those exploited victims and the criminals controlling them.”

As well as enforcement activity with police forces, the NCA has partnered with NGO Stop The Traffik to raise awareness of the difference between sex work and sexual exploitation, as well as with the nursing profession to raise awareness of trafficking amongst those working in the health sector.