The following case study features in the UK Modern Slavery Strategy 2015*:
As part of an ongoing investigation, information was received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in late 2011 that Romanian nationals were being trafficked by an Organised Criminal Group (OCG) from Romania to the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
On many occasions the female victims involved were ‘recruited’ in Romania with the promise of legitimate paid work in the UK, such as care or secretarial work. Once the victims arrived in the UK they were informed that no such employment existed, their identity documents were taken by their traffickers and they were forced and threatened into sex work in order to pay off their debt.
In July 2012 a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was initiated between the MPS and the Romanian Organised Crime Branch with the assistance of Eurojust. From this point onwards real time intelligence was shared between the MPS and the Romanian authorities.
This intelligence indicated that the OCG was at different times either bringing in female victims, travelling themselves or transporting money and goods out of the UK back to Romania via budget airlines, or using vehicles to cross Europe.
In March 2013 a joint coordinated arrest phase was carried out both in Romania and the UK. Ten people were arrested in Romania and were remanded in custody, facing charges of trafficking adults and children (one female victim was only 16 years old when brought to the UK), being part of an organised criminal group and money laundering. Two further persons who were wanted by the Romanians were later arrested by MPS officers on European Arrest Warrants after measures had been put in place to prevent them from fleeing the UK or obtaining travel documents.
In June 2014, 12 members of the OCG received sentences ranging from 4-13 years imprisonment. In addition, property worth £200,000, including a new BMW X6, was confiscated by the Romanian authorities as property paid for using the proceeds of crime. This JIT operation was very successful and resulted in the complete dismantling of an OCG in two EU states. Importantly, the details of this successful operation, including the arrests, length of sentences and amount of assets confiscated, were widely publicised in both the UK and Romania;
*UK Modern Slavery Strategy, 2015