Inside, they found eight Romanian women wearing face shields and masks, and laminated Covid-19 health and safety sheets on the wall. Instead, the police investigation found that the brothel and the women inside were under the control of a criminal gang, which was also running at least three other premises where Romanian women were being exploited. According to UK modern slavery statistics, the number of sex trafficking victims being identified fell sharply in the first few months of lockdown. “The slavery statistics don’t paint an accurate picture of sex trafficking in the UK,” says Huddleston. “The vast majority of women we find whenever we are investigating an address linked to potential sex trafficking are Romanian,” says Ward.

Source: The Guardian November 30, 2020 06:56 UTC