London People Trafficking – 17 arrests and 29 women saved in East London raids
East London was the focus of people trafficking raids today.
Last month, Essex, which boarders North-East London was the scene of 39 dead bodies, dumped in a haulage container (Read more…).
Seventeen people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved with an international human trafficking group, as almost 30 women were led to safety.
Those arrested are between 17 and 50 years of age and include 14 men and three women, the Metropolitan Police said.
All are in custody at a central London police station.
Scotland Yard raided properties in Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Brentwood and Tower Hamlets in the early hours of Thursday (today) morning.
Those held were arrested suspicion of slavery, controlling prostitution, Class A drug offences and section five firearm offences.
An additional four warrants were executed simultaneously in the Balkans, with one man being attested in Constanta, in the south east of Romania, close to Bulgaria.
A total of 29 women, aged from 20 to 40, were led from the addresses and taken to a safe place.
The slavery and people trafficking group which has been operating in London using routs from Belgium and Ireland may have ties to the infamous Balkan Mafia, which spread in the aftermath of the 1992-2001 Balkan genocides.
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