KIDS TRICKED INTO SLAVERY

Gangs exploit love of football

CHILDREN are being lured to Britain on the promise of football trials or modelling deals only to be sold into slavery.

Traffickers are exploiting boys from impoverished countries and their love for the Premier League to bring them to the UK.

Clubs such as Tottenham have had children turn up at their facilities expecting bogus trials.

Spurs informed authorities when a boy, believed to be in his teens, arrived. However, he vanished and was never heard of again.

Families, mainly from Africa, are asked to cough up thousands of pounds for the chance for their children to play for major sides.

The youngsters are then sold off to gangs who press them into domestic servitude, forced labour on cannabis farms or sex slavery.

Criminals are also duping girls into modelling contracts before they are made to work as child prostitutes in London brothels.

Anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland said: “I’ve met children who were brought from Nigeria, for example, expecting to play for some of the best football teams in the country. But they were just lured on that promise and when they arrived they were exploited in many ways.”

Foot Solidaire, which protects young players from exploitation and slavery, predicts as many as 15,000 have been moved out of West Africa in this way.

The findings are humiliating for Theresa May who introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to get tough on the problem.

However, only 6% of crimes recorded by police since the new law was introduced have led to charges, according to official data. A West Midlands police spokesman said: “Victims or are so frightened they won’t support a prosecution.”