Horror of the ‘takeaway’ sex slaves
MoS exposes grim toll of people traff icking in every area of Scotland – and how ruthless criminal gangs are operating a ‘dial-up’ phone service selling women for sex
SCOTLAND is in the grip of a vile epidemic of human trafficking that sees women smuggled into the country to be sold for sex.
Growing numbers of victims are being exploited, figures show, with experts warning the horrific trade is taking place all over the country, from the biggest cities to the quietest towns and villages.
Callous criminal gangs are even operating an online ‘Deliveroo-style service’ marketing the trafficked women to potential ‘clients’.
Victims have been identified in all of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, where people can type in their postcode – similar to the popular app for ordering groceries or food from local restaurants – to find the sex services available in their particular region.
In many cases, the women have been trafficked from overseas and lured to what has been described as the ‘flourishing’ off-street sex industry north of the Border.
Latest figures show 4,171 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office between April and June this year – 152 of them in Scotland – representing an overall 34 per cent increase on the same period in 2021.
Last night, Bronagh Andrew, co-ordinator for the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA), one of the charities supporting Police Scotland on the front line by offering
‘Traffickers are operating a Deliveroo-style service’
support to exploited women, said: ‘There have been possible victims identified across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland.
‘We know that men will travel a distance to pay for sex and, if you take a look and put in any postcode, there will be some link with the sex industry.
‘That willingness leads to women being trafficked to meet that demand and, unfortunately, there are now pimps and traffickers operating practically a Deliveroo-style service, which is a horrible way to put it, but certainly from TARA’s perspective these women have not consented to what is happening to them.
‘We’re pretty clear that, at the minute, Scotland has a flourishing off-street sex industry.’
The news comes as the Glasgow Human Trafficking Unit (GHTU) this week prepares to mark the successful outcome of a lengthy criminal case involving a gang of four traffickers, who are set to be sentenced at the High Court for enticing victims from China and Thailand with the promise of legitimate employment.
Jagpal Singh, 52, his partner Donglin Zhang, 48, along with Vlassis Ntaoulias, 33, and Boonsong Wannas, 62, were found guilty earlier this year of a string of charges between August 2018 and February 2020.
Their conviction marks a watershed moment for Police Scotland, which formed the dedicated unit in Glasgow in 2018 specifically to tackle the increasing problem in the nation’s largest city, and now works with other organisations, including the Home Office and TARA, to dismantle the networks operating the sickening trade.
Detective Superintendent Donna Duffy, who leads the GHTU, said: ‘This was our first operation as a newly formed, dedicated unit and it is our first conviction of what we hope will be many more, so it was a massive breakthrough for us.
‘I’ve been in the police 28 years and dealt with a lot of complicated and horrific investigations but the difference with these criminal gangs is that it’s not drugs and guns they are dealing now, it’s humans. These are human beings they are using as a commodity. They just see this as a way of making money.
‘For us, we’re scraping the surface here in Scotland in terms of enforcement but we’re catching up with them as we’ve brought ourselves up to speed through intelligence development and we understand how these gangs operate now. The reason I set the team up was because we would find females who would present themselves in the city and report that they were trafficked and exploited.’
She added: ‘While we were very good at dealing with that, the part we were lacking was identifying who was behind their predicament. Learning from this operation has been key to us targeting other similar ones, with another one going to court soon and others on the way.’
During the High Court trial, three women bravely recounted their ordeals at the hands of Singh, Zhang, Ntaoulias and Wannas, but a number of others are also thought to have suffered. The traffickers face lengthy jail terms when they appear for sentencing by Judge Douglas Brown at the High Court in Glasgow.
Zhang was also found guilty of aiding or abetting prostitution and, along with Wannas, she was further convicted of being involved in the management of a brothel.
One of the victims told the court she was trafficked to Glasgow from China, where she worked as a hairdresser, in September 2018 after being told she would work as a dishwasher and babysitter and do massage work.
Yesterday, the Home Office said: ‘Enslaving anyone for sexual exploitation is abhorrent. We expect all police forces to investigate claims of sexual exploitation thoroughly and bring the perpetrators to justice.’
The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those responsible for trafficking as well as strengthening protections for survivors.
The Scottish Government said: ‘There is no place for any form of human trafficking or exploitation in Scotland or elsewhere.’