Gloucestershire at heart of anti-human trafficking campaign

11:16am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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GLOUCESTERSHIRE police officers have played a key role in the success of Pentameter 2, the second national co-ordinated campaign of policing activity against people trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The largest ever police crackdown on human trafficking in the UK, Pentameter 2 resulted in police recovering 167 victims and arresting 528 people.

Nearly all of the 55 police forces in the UK participated in the campaign, the activities of which were coordinated by senior officers and staff from Gloucestershire Constabulary.

During the six month operational lifespan of Pentameter 2, 167 victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation were recovered from 822 premises throughout the UK.

In addition to the number of victims recovered, 528 arrests were made. An early snapshot of these results shows that from these arrests, more than 80 individuals have already been charged with a variety of offences. A number of others remain on bail while investigations continue.

Police also had considerable success in seizing the assets of those believed to be responsible for human trafficking. To date officers have recovered more than £500,000 worth of cash, and orders have been put in place restraining further assets worth £3 million.

During the campaign in excess of 6,400 intelligence reports were collated and placed onto a specifically created national intelligence database. This contributed significantly to the success of Pentameter 2, as the process highlighted organised crime links. These links supported regional intelligence units and local forces in planning their operational activity.

The majority of victims recovered by Pentameter 2 originate from the Far East and Asia, with others from Eastern Europe.

Fourteen of the victims were children, with the youngest aged 15.

Pentameter 2 also undertook to look into activity around forced labour, and, as such, five victims identified as being trafficked for the purposes of forced labour were rescued. Of these victims three were children.

The Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary Dr Tim Brain, who is also ACPO lead on Pentameter 2, said: "This was a large scale, co-ordinated campaign with national significance. I'm very proud that Gloucestershire staff demonstrated their excellence by delivering against the challenging task of coordinating Pentameter 2.

"At its core the campaign was about striking a blow against one of the most distressing aspects of serious and organised crime in this country; that of people trafficking for sexual exploitation.

"The figures show how successful we have has been in our achieving our goals. As a direct result of Pentameter 2 more than 160 vulnerable people have been saved from lives of abuse, exploitation and misery.

"Perhaps even more importantly, Pentameter 2 has been instrumental in seriously disrupting the organised crime networks responsible for human trafficking. Organised criminals view individual victims as merely another commodity, and their trafficking as a lucrative and relatively low risk activity. By arresting those involved in these offences and seizing their assets, we reduce the ability of these criminal networks to operate effectively."

"Now that the operational phase of Pentameter 2 has been completed the lessons learned from the campaign will be considered. It should not be underestimated how this operation will influence developments within the Police service."