Vice cops vow to smash Plymouth sex slave gangs
Friday, February 12, 2010, 11:30
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VICE gangs looking to set up brothels staffed by 'sex slaves' should stay out of Plymouth – or prepare to be caught, say police.
The warning comes from Det Sgt Ian Tomlinson of the Devon and Cornwall Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Team, which is celebrating another success against the cynical gangs who exploit vulnerable women.
A major investigation resulted in two Thai brothel-keepers involved in people-trafficking being jailed for six and four years.
Yesterday, Thai woman Oranong Biscoe was jailed for four years at Plymouth Crown Court for helping to get their profits out of the country and back to Thailand.
"This latest conviction sends out a message to those seeking to open brothels and traffic human beings in the UK," said Det Sgt Tomlinson.
"A few years ago, we were seen as a soft target, because we hadn't really identified people-trafficking as too much of a problem, but now when we're made aware of trafficked victims, we come down on the gangs like a ton of bricks.
"Our message to them is: don't come to Devon and Cornwall because you'll get caught. We're very proactive in our stance on organised prostitution."
Det Sgt Tomlinson agreed that 'the oldest profession' was difficult to eradicate, because where there was money to be made, someone would always be keen to exploit the opportunity, but said the nationwide Operation Pentameter exposed the cruelty involved in the trade.
The 26-year-old Thai woman rescued from the brothel in Gascoyne Place was brought to the UK to work in a restaurant, but her contract was bought for £10,000 by a Thai woman who then forced her to work as a sex slave in her brothels until she had earned £30,000 for her.
Even girls brought over to work willingly in the sex trade received virtually nothing until their debt to the traffickers was paid off. Det Sgt Tomlinson said: "Some girls are duped and then coerced; they think they're going to legitimate employment or will become students, but their passports are taken away and they're now in debt to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds before they get their passport back.
"This is cynical exploitation of vulnerable people who don't know better or aren't aware of what they're getting into. This is the darker side of a punter paying his £60; the girls' documents have been taken and they're threatened that if they go to the authorities they'll be locked up as illegal immigrants.
"They have nowhere to go.
"Trafficking human beings in the UK has unfortunately not been stamped out yet, but we're clamping down on brothels in Devon and Cornwall," he said.
Vice cops vow to smash Plymouth sex slave gangs