OMEN
06-05-2006, 08:00 AM
FOREIGN women are being auctioned off for prostitution in public places in Britain such as airports, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said today.
"Criminal activity at the UK's airports is on the increase," said the CPS's director in west London, Nazir Afzal.
"We are now seeing slave auctions being held in public places at airports where brothel keepers are bidding for women destined for prostitution."
A spokesman for the CPS said one such auction was held recently in front of a cafe in the arrivals hall at Gatwick airport, south of London.
Other sales had taken place in the London airports of Heathrow and Stansted, and at other British airports, he said.
The CPS, which tomorrow hosts a conference on crime in airports, said the people-traffickers are selling the young women as they arrived in Britain, often from eastern European countries. The most recent government figures show that five years ago 1400 women were working as prostitutes in quasi-slavery in Britain.
Gloucestershire Chief Constable Tim Brain, head of the Operation Pentameter police operation aimed at dismantling forced prostitution networks, said the numbers are now much greater.
NewsAU
"Criminal activity at the UK's airports is on the increase," said the CPS's director in west London, Nazir Afzal.
"We are now seeing slave auctions being held in public places at airports where brothel keepers are bidding for women destined for prostitution."
A spokesman for the CPS said one such auction was held recently in front of a cafe in the arrivals hall at Gatwick airport, south of London.
Other sales had taken place in the London airports of Heathrow and Stansted, and at other British airports, he said.
The CPS, which tomorrow hosts a conference on crime in airports, said the people-traffickers are selling the young women as they arrived in Britain, often from eastern European countries. The most recent government figures show that five years ago 1400 women were working as prostitutes in quasi-slavery in Britain.
Gloucestershire Chief Constable Tim Brain, head of the Operation Pentameter police operation aimed at dismantling forced prostitution networks, said the numbers are now much greater.
NewsAU