Immigration police in the Philippines have promised to step-up the fight against human trafficking after a UN report apparently estimated that one in four victims of cross border trafficking are from that country. An International Justice Mission report estimated that 500,000 Filipino women and children become victims of human trafficking every year.
Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan admitted that he had been alarmed by the reports and said;
“This is a very serious problem and we in the Immigration bureau, being the country’s chief gatekeeper, should do our part in stopping this human trafficking menace from victimizing more of our countrymen,” Only 109 cases had been reported to the police between 2003 and 2005.
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A major police operation to tackle the trafficking of women in Britain has discovered that some victims are being “sold” at auctions in pubs before being forced to work in brothels.

In the largest operation of its kind, police in Cambridgeshire raided 73 suspected brothels during the past few months. They have already rescued seven women, some with serious injuries sustained as they tried to escape captivity.

The scale of the abuse has horrified officers and staff from other agencies working with them, who have found women being forced to work in the sex trade in houses in villages as well as city centres. Some were made to have sex with up to 60 men a day, earning thousands of pounds for the gangs.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fullwood, leading the investigation, said: “We have seen organised crime moving away from firearms and drugs into sex trafficking. It’s a lucrative area for gangs, and the women they get hold of can find it hard to escape.”

Police say women are brought to a pub with a minder. They are then inspected by members of different gangs who are invited to bid for them - often as little as £1000 per woman.

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10460053&ref=rss

The FBI has announced the sentencing of Michail Aronov, age 34, to 7 ½ years in prison as will as requiring him to pay in excess of $1 million in restitution. The conviction stems from his involvement as a ring leader of a conspiracy that forced women form countries in Eastern Europe, who thought they were begin brought to the United States for legitimate jobs, to work as exotic dances in strip clubs in the Detroit, Michigan area.The actual crimes he was convicted of are conspiring to violate their civil rights by involuntary servitude, immigration conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

According to the papers filed with the court, Aronov, in conspiracy with his business partners operated what amounted to human trafficking in which they smuggled women into the United States and threatened them if they did not work in the clubs. They did this under the cover of a legitimate business, Beauty Search Inc.

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http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/353556/ninth_conspirator_sentenced_in_detroit.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Elizabeth and James Jackson, of Culver City, Calif., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Los Angeles to felony charges related to forced labor and human trafficking. Elizabeth Jackson pleaded guilty to a single count of forced labor, and James Jackson pleaded guilty to a single count of alien harboring.

A JUDGE showed mercy on two young Vietnamese men who admitted running a drugs factory - because he was convinced they were victims of “modern slavery”.

Judge Christopher Mitchell delayed sentencing Long Tran, 20, and a 16-year-old youth, who admitted growing the 336 plants at a house in Kent View Road, Basildon, last month.

He said he feared they had been taken from their families and smuggled into the UK by organised crime gangs.

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http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/basildonnews/display.var.1617737.0.drug_factory_men_victims_of_slavery.php