The many sinister forms of modern slavery and the police team tasked with tackling them

A team of officers at Humberside Police this week launched a clampdown on pop-up brothels across the region but sexual exploitation is just one part of their work tackling the harrowing world of modern slavery.

Just before the Covid pandemic hit, the force set up the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) team. It consists of five officers headed by Detective Sergeant Rich Kirk. While sexual exploitation forms the majority of their work, there are several other areas the team tackle.

DS Kirk has spoken of the growing problem concerning women from south east Asia and Eastern Europe being coerced, duped and trafficked into the country. These women are then taken to pop-up brothels where they carry out their work in temporary rented accommodation. Even the likes of Airbnbs and other tourist accommodation are used.

Read more: Workers found sleeping on floor of Hull factory as owner appears in court

However, there are people also being exploited in other ways. The police team are trying to safeguard a number of victims trafficked and exploited in different circumstances. While those coming to the UK from other countries are vulnerable, there are a lot of British victims as well, particularly regarding the likes of County Lines drug dealing.

But the team do not deal in the exploitation of children. There has been much discussion in recent years about child grooming gangs. And while that is a huge issue right now, that is under the remit of a separate team.

“The team has been in existence for two and a half years,” DS Kirk explained. “We were actually set up in March 2020, just before the Covid pandemic so that set us back a bit.

“I don't think people fully understand what modern slavery is. When people think about slavery they immediately imagine an African man shackled in chains and sent to plantations in America.

“But that is nothing like how it is now. Many do not even realise slavery still exists. It takes many forms. We prefer to look at it as the exploitation of society's most vulnerable people.

“There is criminal exploitation which can be anything from forcing people to beg or shoplift to County Lines drug dealing. Then there is domestic servitude which is not such a big issue in our area. But it is also difficult to find out to what extent it goes on.

“There is also employment exploitation with particular issues in nail bars and car washes but also in factories and agriculture. We investigate this on a regular basis.”

While sexual exploitation is the biggest issue right now for the MSHT, here are the other forms of modern slavery and how the MSHT is tackling each problem.

Labour exploitation

There are two main areas of concern in our region. There have been many rumours about nail bars and car washes being at the centre of exploitation.

And according to DS Kirk, those rumours are based on a degree of truth. But it is important to point out not all such businesses exploit their workers.

“With labour exploitation we deal largely with nail bars, car washes and agriculture,” he said. “It tends to be the nail bars employing Vietnamese workers that are more likely to be exploiting staff.

“But we have to be careful not to be too heavy-handed as the workers being exploited will fear being deported. We need them on side so it is a difficult balance to get right.”

It is tricky to know which car washes might be exploiting staff and which are fully legitimate businesses. But there are clues if you want to ensure you go to a car wash not involved in modern slavery.

“Some things to look out for are whether workers are wearing suitable PPE, such as wellies and protective clothing, “DS Kirk said. “It is also more reassuring if they are wearing some kind of uniform and not just casual clothing. You may also notice only one of the workforce may speak English which can also be a sign.

“But it is important to point out that these workers are not generally being treated badly but they are getting paid well below the minimum wage. However, that can still be more than they would get working back home.

Without wanting to get too political, DS Kirk believes the fact asylum seekers and refugees cannot work while their applications are being processed is exacerbating the problem.

“We have a potential problem with the amount of people staying in our area waiting for applications to be processed,” he explained. “This provides rich pickings for those wanting to exploit workers because they cannot find work legitimately.”

But issues of exploitation can appear in other sectors. Just this month Pengfei Wang, the boss of Sun Polymer in Stockholm Road, Hull, was handed a suspended prison sentence after he was found to be housing Chinese nationals on the factory premises.

Eight workers were found sleeping in beds on the premises which was a fire risk and put the workers at serious risk. The factory was a 24-hour operation to create plastic pellets.

“We considered these workers victims,” DS Kirk said. “There was no health and safety and this was rubbish accommodation.

“The issue is that, however bad we consider it to be, it may be favourable to what they were experiencing back home. That means they probably do not see themselves as victims of modern slavery.”

Criminal exploitation

This largely involves County Lines which means other teams within the police are involved. The term County Lines is used to describe a form of organised crime where gangs based in urban areas pressurise vulnerable people and children to transport, store and sell drugs in smaller county towns. It takes its name from the phone lines used by organised crime gangs to communicate between towns.

DS Kirk's team can get involved in County Lines but it tends to be spearheaded by other teams within the force. However, his team do get involved more in the cannabis factories which seem to have increased in recent years.

There have been a number of operations uncovered just in the last few months. But those looking after these factories are often victims in their own right.

“We have a huge problem with cannabis cultivation, “DS Kirk said. “These tend to be run by Vietnamese and Albanian people.

“Traditionally, we have arrested and charged those we find operating these cannabis farms. But we are now trying to change that mindset. We realise these people looking after the farms are unlikely to be the brains behind the operation and they are, in fact, being exploited.

“On a practical level, if we take these people to court, their lawyers use the section 45 defence which says they were victims of slavery or trafficking and were forced to carry out the act. We are trying now to change the culture of who is the suspect and who is the victim.

“It is similar with juveniles involved in County Lines drug crime. It is clear some of these young people are enticed or coerced into drug dealing. This means we need to work with them and not just punish them.

Domestic servitude

This is a form of modern slavery that is far more difficult to track. It is all behind doors and difficult for anyone to pick up on.

But the issue has reached national news recently with Mo Farah's revelations that he was illegally trafficked to the UK from Somaliland. Once here ,his identity was changed and he was put into domestic service.

“Domestic servitude is now on the agenda and has become a huge issue now because of the Mo Farah film,” DS Kirk said.

Organ trafficking

Perhaps the most disturbing of all and, thankfully the least prevalent, is organ trafficking. People are brought from developing countries to the likes of the UK where they are illegally operated on and have organs removed.

These are used for patients desperate for an organ transplant. There have only been a handful of cases reported in the UK and none in our region.