Shameless criminals pretend to be child slaves to dodge trials

RUTHLESS drug runners are pretending to be child slaves to exploit new laws designed to protect trafficked youngsters.

Gangsters who have made hundreds of thousands of pounds in cannabis farm operations across the country are teaching members to cite Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act, which effectively protects them from prosecution.

The law is intended to protect anyone aged under 18 who has been trafficked or exploited by criminals and provides a defence of being forced to commit a crime.

But detectives say Vietnamese drug gangs, who produce large amounts of cannabis, are exploiting the loophole.

Lancashire Police seized cannabis worth more than £800,000 and more than £200,000 in cash from one Vietnamese gang – but its members claimed to be vulnerable children.

Suspects who declare themselves trafficked children are spared prosecution and placed in local authority care as part of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), a scheme designed to support trafficking victims. In one case, a cannabis farmer who claimed he was 15 avoided prosecution because police were unable to prove he was not a child, officers told The Sunday Times.

‘He was clearly an adult conspiring to grow large amounts of cannabis,’ they added.

The drug dealer was later placed into social care in Lancashire before going missing and was listed on the police national computer as a vulnerable missing child.

He was later found and placed into foster care – before going missing again. His whereabouts are unknown.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Peall, head of Lancashire constabulary’s exploitation team, said: ‘How do you prove the age of a foreign national inside 24 hours who won’t even tell you their real name? In most cases it is simply impossible. Age assessments take weeks.

‘The law means there is a presumption they are under 18 unless we can prove otherwise within hours of arrest.’ Anti-slavery commissioner Sara Thornton said: ‘Over the last month I have heard concerns about the operation of section 45... from those who think that it is wrongly claimed by those who have committed criminal acts, and from those who think there are people in prison who may in fact be victims of slavery or trafficking.

‘Over the next year I will be seeking to better understand what is happening on the ground in order to encourage good practice.’ Gangs also exploit the loophole by grooming children as young as 12 to become ‘county lines’ drug mules. Hundreds of vulnerable boys and girls have been groomed by gangs based in cities to carry cocaine and heroin to small market towns and seaside resorts, exposing them to horrific violence.

A report last month found that the number of child slavery investigations in the UK has jumped nearly tenfold in just two years.

Police chiefs warn there are ‘just too many predators out there’.

One in three probes into modern slavery now concern children after an explosion in ‘ county lines’ drugs gangs preying on youngsters, the report said. About a third of those victims exploited by gangs had been reported missing to police before, analysis shows.

The Modern Slavery Act was introduced in 2015 by Theresa May, when she was home secretary. The Home Office said: ‘Modern slavery and trafficking are barbaric crimes and we remain committed to stamping them out and supporting genuine victims.’

‘They are 18 unless we can prove otherwise’