Seven ‘rescued’ in North East brothel raids

Mar 13 2009 by Adam Jupp and Laura Caroe, The Journal

HIDDEN behind drawn curtains and locked doors, the seedy secrets of the region’s sex industry normally go unnoticed. But a series of raids on North East brothels have exposed a murky world of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in our communities.

Officers targeted 14 premises in Jesmond, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Darlington and moved to “rescue” seven women suspected of being smuggled into the UK to work as prostitutes.

And The Journal can reveal the sex industry is an emerging issue for police, as global people-trafficking gangs target the region with increasing regularity.

It is understood there are now around 100 people in the care of, or known to social services in Newcastle alone, who have been trafficked into the area. That has increased from roughly 70 four years ago, suggesting more people than ever before are finding themselves being illegally sneaked into the region, where they can be exploited and forced to work as call girls. All of the women attached to the brothels raided this week as part of Operation Caspian were Chinese nationals and UKBA officers are investigating their immigration status and how they came to be here.

A study published recently, commissioned by the Northern Rock Foundation, shed light of the nature of sex work in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear and confirmed there are still no red light zones in either area, compared to other parts of the country, but stated street prostitution was on the rise.

The document reported evidence of prostitutes working out of crack dens, selling themselves for as little as £10. Adult sex work was characterised as ranging from escort agencies advertising in newspapers and on websites to drug-addicted prostitutes and asylum seekers carrying out sex acts in exchange for food or accommodation.