The UK Newspaper The Mirror has published an account by two young Lithuanian women of how they were trafficked into the UK. They met two men near their village in Lithuania in 2004. After a few dates they agreed to go on a short holiday to the UK with them, but when they reached London’s Gatwick airport they were taken to a coffee shop in the airport terminal itself and sold for £3000 each in full view of the public. Despite their distress, no member of the public offered to help them. The two women now aged 19 and 21 were raped and forced to work as prostitutes. Eventually both women escaped and their traffickers Serbian-born Tasim Axhami, 19, Lithuanian Emiljan Beqirat, 18, and Vilma Kizlaite, 20 have been jailed for 21 years, 16 years and 11 years respectively.

Six men have been arrested in Maputu, Mozambique for allegedly trying to traffic people into South Africa. The men were arrested whilst trying to driving 43 people between Maputo and Witbank. Some of the alleged victims are helping police with their investigation into how the crime syndicate worked. Mozambique’s interior ministry spokesperson Ilidio Miguel said that many people were being trafficked from Mozambique’s poor areas into South Africa, lured with the promise of good jobs. In fact many of them were being sold into forced prostitution and labour at exploitation wages. He said: “We believe that, with the detention of these people we will learn clues to arrest the other members of the group.” 

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a free phone number for people living in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina to call if they see anything they suspect is related to human trafficking. Police suspect that there are hundreds of trafficking victims living in North Carolina, who are forced to work in the fields, in homes and as prostitutes in slave like conditions. The number to ring in North Carolina is 866 252 6850. Local residents are being asked to look out for houses in their area which have an undue amount of security and a steady stream of male visitors. There have been several recent cases where young girls have been trafficked from Mexico into North Carolina. Young runaways from the area have also been forced into prostitution. Many of the girls have been raped by “clients” every 15 to 30 minutes in brothels which look from the outside like suburban homes.

Police in the UK have called for the travel industry to play an active part in their new drive to end sex trafficking in the country.
“Victims are arriving from all over the world, but whatever their origin, whether by aeroplane, ferry, train or coach, they all arrive in the UK by public transport,” said Tim Brain of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
“It is clear therefore, that the success of the preventative aspect of the operation is dependent on the co-operation of the travel industry.
“Assistance from the travel industry in combating what in effect is both modern day slavery and an affront to human rights cannot, therefore, be over-emphasised.”
Brain estimated that there were approximately 2,800 women in the UK who had been trafficked into forced prostitution. Police in the UK will now be patrolling all major ports of entry to the country and there will be a poster campaign asking such questions as “Do you have your passport?” and “ Did you arrange your own travel?”. These new initiatives are part of  a new initiative called “Operation Pentameter”.
It is to be hoped that the UK will also sign and ratify the Council of Europe convention on the trafficking of persons and allow victims to stay in the country should they choose to do so, as often it is dangerous to return to their country of origin.