The Government has told Sky News it is putting “the full weight of its machine” into fighting modern-day slavery.
The pledge came as Damien Green, Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims, became the first man ever to enter one safehouse for trafficked women in the south of England.
There, he heard the story of Rita, a Nigerian duped by a family friend into travelling to the UK with the promise of work and prospects. Instead she was forced to become a sex slave.
Rita, whose name we have changed to hide her identity, was forced to sleep with many men and women.
She said: “When it happened it was like a dream to me. I was waiting for someone to wake me up. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I ended up being raped by many men.”
Rita was kept in place with threats.
“He told me if I tried to escape he would kill me and my entire family. I was very frightened. He was evil, horrible. It was a nightmare in my life,” she said.
“It’s a nightmare that the Government now recognise thousands are going through. And Damien Green plans to get tough, pledging to get the traffickers via any legal means he can.
“The gangs and people that traffic people may also be trafficking drugs and guns. They are unlikely to pay taxes so there are lots of ways to bring them down.”
Mr Green says the National Crime Agency , which has operations overseas, on the borders and domestically, will have a critical role to play and the new anti-slavery Bill will introduce tougher sanctions for gangmasters and criminals who exploit not just foreigners but the many Britons who are forced into work via threats and coercion.
“We used to think this was just a international problem but now know there are British citizens who might be trafficked around the country and used in labour gangs,” he said.
In a sign of how seriously the Government is taking the issue, Prime Minister David Cameron personally chaired a meeting this week of all the agencies and departments involved in implementing the Bill. At the same time a series of police raids targeted premises where the victims of trafficking were believed to be.
As well as legal avenues, the Government is expanding education and awareness programmes, particularly abroad.
Mr Green says they are working with foreign embassies to spread the message that people should be suspicious of promises of a perfect life or the perfect job in the UK.
That is a message Rita only wishes she had heard before she innocently left with that family friend – now a man she despises.
She told me: “I had never heard of this thing (trafficking). I did not understand what was happening. I would really like that they catch the man. I don’t know who else he is doing it to.”
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