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Sex traffickers arrested after vice squad swoop on Paddington
By Marijke Peters
THE vice squad raided a brothel in Paddington at dawn on Wednesday and arrested seven men suspected of sex trafficking.
Officers from the Met's Clubs and Vice Unit took part and also rescued 13 women who are believed to be victims of trafficking from Malaysia.
The women were taken to a special reception centre where they were given access to health professionals, interpreters and specially trained sexual offences investigators.
The raids follow a five-month nationwide intelligence-led operation, called Operation Pentameter, to help women brought into Britain illegally and forced into prostitution.
Det Supt David Eyles, who led the operation, said the arrests were significant.
He said: "The operation was a huge success. This is the largest brothel that we have ever come across. It's very unusual to find that number of females working at any one time.
"We have evidence to suggest that they were brought here against their will and we also have surveillance to show they were emotionally controlled.
"The men who frequent these brothels are fuelling this trade because it creates a demand so the supply necessarily follows. These people doing this need to think very carefully about that."
Police also raided addresses in Soho, Birmingham and Berkhamsted, where they made further arrests and rescued another six women. A couple who are thought to be the ringleaders of the group were arrested at a hotel in Golders Green.
Lynda King Taylor, chairwoman of the sector working group, which has worked closely with the police on the issue of prostitution in Westminster said: "These are not just £20 per hour job prostitutes, this was always part of a huge human trafficking ring and serious organised crime.
"We have highlighted this house to the police before. Any major operation of this kind relies on communities' intelligence and not just surveillance. It's a tremendous example of what the community and the police can do together to clean up neighbourhoods."
Det Supt Eyles said the women will be questioned about their experiences and offered the chance to return to their home countries if they wish.
The Salvation Army, which is part of a victim support network, is one of a number of agencies that have offered to provide accommodation for the women.
Residents in Marylebone are fighting a government plan to allow mini-brothels to operate on a legal basis.
editorial@wood-vale.com
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