9 individuals have been arrested in England and Spain on suspicion of human trafficking offenses linked to an escort company.
West Midlands Police labored with Spanish officers and the Nationwide Crime Company to make the arrests.
The leaders of an organized crime group are stated to have trafficked ladies into the UK and compelled them into intercourse work.
Det Con Steve Oldbury stated the group was believed to be “making hundreds of kilos per week”.
In Madrid, police arrested a person and a girl, each 43 years outdated, whereas British officers executed warrants within the West Midlands and the south of England.
A 68-year-old man was arrested in Kent and a 50-year-old man in Tamworth.
Three males, aged 28, 29 and 55, had been arrested in Sandwell and two males, 41 and 46, in Birmingham.
All had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to regulate prostitution, conspiracy to site visitors within the UK for sexual exploitation and cash laundering offences.
They continue to be in custody for questioning, with extradition proceedings ongoing for the couple arrested in Spain.
Det Con Oldbury stated: “We imagine the group made hundreds of kilos per week with funds repeatedly and illegally transferred in another country.
“On the coronary heart of this criminality are the ladies who’re presumed to have been coerced and intimidated into performing sexual companies. Their well-being is of the best concern.”
Neil Holding, Regional Supervisor of the Nationwide Crime Company for Spain, stated organized crime teams had been sexually exploiting victims within the UK and abroad.
“Victims are sometimes on the lookout for a greater life, however are as a substitute compelled into the intercourse business the place they’re managed and exploited by criminals who deal with them as commodities in pursuit of revenue.”
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