Wednesday Raids in UK & Germany Find Trafficking Victims

Two brothel raids took place yesterday in both the UK and in Germany. Law enforcement officials have rescued suspected victims of trafficking and taken the traffickers into custody in England, while in Germany arrests were made.

Yesterday, as part of the UK's Operation Pentameter, a raid in London and the West Midlands at a number of brothels rounded up 19 victims of trafficking, all of Malaysian descent, and their traffickers, a man and woman, were arrested. From the Guardian UK online:

Chief Superintendent Ian Dyson, the head of the unit, said the women would have been subjected to physical threats and intimidation.

"Some will have been brought in under false pretences, believing they were going to work in legitimate employment," he said. "Others will have come knowing they were going to be working as prostitutes, but all of them will have been exploited."

Mr Dyson called for anyone with information about trafficked women to contact the police and said men who used brothels were "fuelling this trade".

Also yesterday, German officials raided brothels in 4 states ahead of the World Cup soccer competition next month expected to fuel the demand for prostitution and thereby increase sex trafficking throughout this country where prostitution is legal.

From an AP news article:

Volker Bouffier, interior minister of Hesse, said the raids Wednesday were launched in an effort to combat concerns expressed by human rights organizations and other groups that thousands of women, mostly from Eastern Europe, could be smuggled into Germany and forced to work as prostitutes during the World Cup. The monthlong event starts June 9.

"The controls and searches are an effective way to fight against such crimes, and for this reason (we) will continue to carry out such actions," Bouffier said.

Police in Hesse checked the documentation and registration of 603 prostitutes, making 74 arrests. Authorities in neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate said they arrested 22 people and another 34 were issued citations, mostly for immigration violations and failure to comply with business regulations.