A forced labor case from 2023 in Bristol, United Kingdom. 1 source on file.
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Eastern European workers trafficked for cannabis cultivation in residential properties. Confined forced to tend plants under threat Accused: Albanian organized crime group.
Avon and Somerset Police intelligence operation. Multiple arrests under Modern Slavery Act. Salvation Army modern slavery support.
United Kingdom GB
An 11 year old Malian boy dreamed of buying a bicycle. When a man approached him and told him he could work on a cocoa farm and make enough money to buy a bicycle, a radio and more, the boy did not suspect the man of being a child trafficker. He went with the man to Cote d'Ivoire, where the man sold him to a cocoa farmer. He and other trafficked boys worked long hours doing back-breaking and dangerous work farming cocoa and bananas. The farmer gave them little to eat, beat them severely, and forbade them from leaving the farm. At last he realized he had become a slave.
United Kingdom GB
Carl Pritchett owned Cuddles Massage Parlous in Bearwood, and ran the establishment with two associates: Susan Richards, who managed the brothel, and Nathan Langston, who worked maintenance. The victims were held at a nearby house during the day, and taken to Cuddles each evening. The massage parlor is located on Hagley Road, near the center of Birmingham. The victims had their passports and other travel documents taken from them. Cuddles had 12 rooms, an electric fence at the back of the building, and several of the windows were boarded.
United Kingdom GB
A young man befriended the 16 year-old girl in Lithuania, where he introduced her to his “friends” at a nightclub. They offered her an exciting, all expenses paid, ‘Sport’s Trip’ to London. She forged a permission letter from her parents, and the men took her to Sheffield where she was sold – they confiscated her ID card which proved she was 16. She was then sold to four/five Albanian brothers (ages 21, 22, 32, 33) who were operating a brothel in Hounslow, London. They told her she had to work to pay for the cost to transport her from Sheffield to London. The brothel operated 24/7 and the girls were given one day off a week. Girls were told that they would receive a share of their profits once the debt had been paid off. She was given a fake name and was allowed to make occasional phone calls to her family in Lithuania, but was too frightened to tell them about her situation. The gang also occasionally sent £100 or so, which the prosecution argued was to imply that the girl was doing well in the UK. The girl reports that she was forced to sleep with as many as 10 men per day, and earned her traffickers around £800 per day. She received no money.