Sex Trafficking2023
United Kingdom GB
Vulnerable women were recruited in Romania and transported to the United Kingdom for sexual exploitation. The organized crime group operated an escort agency in London, took at least half of the victims’ earnings and charged them for transport, lodging and advertising, creating financial dependency. Threats and violence were used to maintain control.
Sex Trafficking2011
United Kingdom GB
Eye-witnesses described how a number of police Land Rovers and unmarked police cars swept into King Street in Belfast city centre yesterday around 10am. In dramatic scenes they raided a large apartment block adjacent to the Ibis hotel and arrested two men, aged 22 and 29. One witness, who did not wish to be named, said the apartments were known to be a base for prostitutes, with clients visiting at all hours. Two of the women, both in their 20s, were rescued yesterday from the King Street apartment block and a property in nearby College Place North. The other four women were rescued over recent weeks during the three-month long PSNI investigation. A 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman were also arrested in Cavendish Street, off the Falls Road in west Belfast. One of the suspects is from Northern Ireland, the other three arrested are eastern European.
Sex Trafficking2010
United Kingdom GB
Five of the six men were convicted and spent up to 14 years jail time Two men from Peterborough, Slovakian Edward Facuna, 54, and Czech-born Roman Pacan, 39, charged for trafficking a Slovakian teenager to the UK for sexual exploitation and were both sentenced 11 years in jail Turkish-born Ali Arslan, convicted of controlling two brothels, controlling prostitution for gain, controlling a child prostitute and trafficking a teenager to the UK for sexual exploitation, was sentenced for 14 years. a 26 year old spend two and a half years in jail for brothel keeping and a child prostitution offence. He was cleared of trafficking in the UK. Kosovan Martin Doci, 29, was convicted of controlling child prostitution and trafficking a teenager within the UK and received 11 years jail time. 29 year old Valmir Gjetia of Albania was jailed for three years under the changes of controlling prostitution
Sex Trafficking2009
United Kingdom GB
Simon Dempsey (39) and Chen Rong (33) Both Simon Dempsey and Chen Rong have been charged for facilitating the UK arrival of Chinese girls for sex trafficking purposes. Dempsey, a former Police Service of Northern Ireland officer, acted as the enforcer while Rong acted as the "controller of the brothels". A group of 6 girls were rescued in Belfast & Londonderry, Northern Ireland. These girls were trafficked from China through a Chinese Mafia ring and have since been forced to work as sex slaves in England and now Northern Ireland. This operation has been a long time in the planning and have numerous partner agencies involved in bringing women over from China to work all across Europe. In this particular Northern Ireland case, the women were told they would be working as nannies/babysitters in the UK. Both Dempsey and Rong are now awaiting a final sentence.
Sex Trafficking2009
United Kingdom GB
The police were tipped off and then launched an undercover investigation. This led to them getting three warrants, and so they simultaneously executed Operation Hinton, raiding the properties on September 30, 2009. During the mission, police were accompanied by three interpreters. The police arrested the perpetrators and freed the victims, treating them as witnesses.
Sex Trafficking2009
United Kingdom GB
6 traffickers involved...Ali Arslan, Edward Facuna, Roman Pacan, Mesut Aslan, Kosovan Martin, Valmin Gjetja. They were aged between 26-54 years old and were expected to have sold approximately 50 eastern european women.
Sex Trafficking2008
United Kingdom GB
Oriental Gems was an "online brothel", which specialized in girls from the South East Asia. A gallery on the site showed photographs of more than 60 naked and semi-naked women. Many of them were effectively commodities who had been traded and invested in by "bondholders". Southwark Crown Court heard that Oriental Gems was run by Pongpoj Pitayatanakul, his brother Bordee, and Pongpoj's girlfriend Monthira Duangthip, all from Guildford, Surrey. They employed four men as drivers and assistants: Panya Peakaew, from Paddington, west London, Nopharat Charoenying, and Graipich Vudto, from Bayswater, central London, and Thatri Pornpaditkong, from central London. One specific case is of a woman - advertised on the website as "Helen" – who had been "bought" from her traffickers by a syndicate of two women and a man for £11,000 and then told she would have to pay her "bondholders" £30,000 to win her own freedom. Brian O'Neill, prosecuting, said she effectively had to sleep with 300 men, at £100 a time, to buy herself out of a modern-day form of slavery. The "bondholders", who effectively owned several of the women and expected them to pay off their £30,000 debt, were two women, Jirapha Sriwicha, of Hendon, north London and Sutima Khongpon, and Phanusak Kaewbenjarkarn, both from Streatham, south London. Metropolitan Police’s Chief Superintendent Ian Dyson, in charge of the Clubs and Vice Unit has said, “What is notable about this gang is the level of exploitation that the women had to work under - their debt bondages are the highest we have ever come across - in the region of £28,000.”
Sex Trafficking2008
United Kingdom GB
Raid occurred freeing 59 women from trafficking in Scotland.
Sex Trafficking2008
United Kingdom GB
Thomas John Carroll, his daughter Toma Carroll, and Shaemial Clark. They have all denied joint charges of human trafficking into the UK, out of the UK, and controlling prostitution and money laundering.
Sex Trafficking2005
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.
Sex Trafficking2005
United Kingdom GB
A Chinese man was found in the same flat as the woman and arrested on suspicion of being involved with trafficking women for prostitution.
Sex Trafficking2005
United Kingdom GB
3 Eastern European men from Kosovo, Albania & Lithuania trafficked 2 girls (18 & 19 years old) from Lithuania to Sheffield (one girl was further trafficked to London – this case can also be viewed on Slavery Map). On arrival at Gatwick airport, their passports were taken and they were auctioned to a group of men in the ‘Costa’ coffee bar. They were then taken to a flat in Sheffield to begin ‘working’ under threat of torture or death. They were told that they would be kept in baths of ice or shot dead if they refused to sleep with who they were told. The traffickers also threatened that if they disobeyed, they would be sold onto traffickers in London, who would lock them up and give them no food. Both girls were never left unattended and all calls were monitored.