UK brothel raided, 13 Asians held

People from the Indian sub-continent, China and Thailand have been detained and more arrests are imminent.

Several people hailing from the Indian sub-continent, China and Thailand have been arrested in a swoop on a suspected brothel in north England, highlighting the problem of trafficking of Asian women into Britain.

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Thirteen persons from Asia, and an equal number from England and Latvia were arrested in the raid carried out in Grimsby in Yorkshire. More arrests were said to be imminent.

The Humberside Police are now carrying out investigations on who ran the business and where the profits went.

Detective Chief Inspector Dena Fleming, the officer in charge, said, "This is an investigation into the trafficking of Asian females into the UK for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

"There has been a lot of intelligence gathered and we believe these addresses were being used as brothels.

"All these people have to be interviewed, and we have seized a lot of property," Fleming added.

She also warned residents across Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire to be on the lookout for possible illegal brothels in their communities.

There have been several reports about smugglers using illegal routes into Britain to bring in women from the Indian sub-continent and Southeast Asia for prostitution. Once in the country, they are reportedly dispersed to various towns across Britain that have large Asian populations.

According to a report in the Hull Daily Mail, student Clare Callan, 22, said, "We saw a man carrying a girl over his shoulder once and her arms and legs were flailing. There's not much of a community down here, so people don't take much notice of their neighbours."

Stuart Robinson, another student, said, "You hear of people-smuggling and prostitution rings going on, but I can't believe it was happening down my street."