Three held over human trafficking

3:25pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

Authorities have cracked down on a human trafficking gang in what is thought to be the largest operation of its kind ever in the UK.

More than 200 staff from nine different organisations took part in the crackdown on the organised crime group believed to be trafficking people into the UK for cheap labour.

Three men were arrested at a field near Holbeach, South Lincolnshire, on suspicion of human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.

Northamptonshire Police said more than 60 men and women from Eastern European countries including Poland and Lithuania had been taken to Kettering, Northants, where they are now being treated as potential witnesses and victims.

Officers also searched 21 houses in Kettering and across the Midlands as well as a business premises in Market Harborough, Leics.

A spokeswoman said four men and a woman had also been arrested on suspicion of people trafficking and money laundering.

The huge crackdown, codenamed Operation Ruby, involved the East Midlands Foreign National Crime Team, Northamptonshire Police, the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the UK Borders Agency, the Migrant Helpline, Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

It centres on allegations people were recruited through advertisements and agencies in Eastern Europe to travel to the UK on the promise of work.

When they arrived, it is thought their documents were taken from them and a proportion of their wages was withheld to pay for housing and transport costs.

Det Supt Glyn Timmins, director of Investigations at Northamptonshire Police, co-ordinated the operation.