HUMAN trafficking is the fastest growing form of international crime, generating more than £3bn every year in criminal proceeds. It's estimated that as many 800,000 men, women and children are bought and sold worldwide each year.
This abhorrent trade is often seen as something that doesn't affect us, but speaking at a national conference on human trafficking in Leeds yesterday, Grahame Maxwell said: "Trafficking is not hidden away down dark alleys, it is taking place on our d
oorstep."
Only last week an Albanian and a Lithuanian were among four people arrested in Leeds on suspicion of human trafficking within the UK and controlling prostitution.
The arrests highlight the ongoing battle to smash sex trafficking rings operating in this country.
It's a battle being led by the Sheffield-based UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC), which since opening last October has co-ordinated all police anti-trafficking operations that have so far rescued 100 women and children.
Mr Maxwell helped create the centre and is the UK's most senior officer responsible for tackling this barbaric trade.
Taking time out from yesterday's conference at the Royal Armouries, Mr Maxwell, who became North Yorkshire Police's Chief Constable in May, said despite several high-profile successes, the problem was not going away.
"Some estimates have said there are 4,000 women and children who are victims of trafficking in the UK in terms of sexual exploitation.
"More and more people we find are being rescued not from massage parlours, but are living in suburbia in terraced houses and flats."
Some people might find it difficult to understand how someone falls into this trap but Mr Maxwell admits it can be all too easy.
"One of the first victims we helped in the UK was a 15 year-old Lithuanian girl who found herself in Sheffield where she managed to escape her trafficker and turned up at a police station."
Her case shows how unsuspecting young victims are lured from their homes into a nightmare world of brutality and rape.
"She was phoned up by someone and asked if she would like to sell ice cream for the summer in London and was told she would earn about £300."
The traffickers signed a consent form and her parents, believing it was a good opportunity, approved the trip.
"She was flown to Gatwick and sold in a coffee shop from one trafficker to another for £3,000, her passport was taken off her and sold for £4,000.
"Later the same night, she was taken to a flat and brutalised and raped, and from that moment on she was forced to act as a prostitute."
The girl was sold six times in six different cities in the UK before finally escaping and helping the police catch her traffickers who are now serving lengthy sentences. However, once someone is caught up in a cycle of exploitation, it can be hard to break free.
"Quite often they have little or no command of English and clearly they feel threatened by the traffickers. It's the same pull factors whether it's sexual exploitation, forced labour or domestic service – you're made an offer you think you can't turn down."
Those responsible are nearly always involved in organised crime.
"Some are UK pimps, while others have international rings like Triad gangs and Vietnamese gangs and there was an Albanian crime gang we took out."
One of the problems is that the UK is seen as an attractive proposition.
"It's a lot easier to con someone to come to the UK than it is to, say, Estonia, because the perception is the streets here are paved with gold."
The situation is complicated by the growing migrant workforce coming to work here legitimately.
"It makes it more difficult for people in local neighbourhoods to try and identify someone who's not there on a voluntary basis. We have a lot of migrant workers who choose to come to Yorkshire, who get paid the going rate and are quite happy.
"But somewhere underneath there might be one per cent being exploited and it's for us to try and identify those people."
Despite these concerns, Mr Maxwell believes human trafficking is being seen as a serious, international problem. Law enforcement representatives from the United States, Dubai, and Romania were among more than 400 people at yesterday's conference, which he believes bodes well for the future.
"If we'd had this conference two years ago, we would be lucky to have a handful of people and that's the difference I think we've made in terms of raising awareness and it's something we must continue to do."
The full article contains 777 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
