24 slaves found at a UK travellers’ site

Four men and a woman were arrested at the Greenacre caravan site in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, after a police operation revealed 24 slaves being held at the site. Of the 24 men, 17 were British, two from Romania, three from Poland and two from Russia.

The men would be lured in with promises of work, an £80 pay a day and lodging. In reality, the men were forced to work for no pay, given very little food, held in crammed conditions including kennels, horseboxes and old caravans and had their heads shaved.

 “They're told, if you come here we'll pay you £80 a day and give you board and lodgings. But when they get here, their hair is cut off them, they're kept in some cases [in] horseboxes, dog kennels and old caravans, made to work for no money, given very, very small amounts of food,” Detective Chief Inspector Sean O’Neil said.

“The men we found at the site were in a poor state of physical health and the conditions they were living in were shockingly filthy and cramped. We believe that some of them had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few weeks and others for up to 15 years.”

Bedfordshire Police said they have been receiving reports of the on-going slavery since 2008 from people who had managed to leave.

“We were aware of 28 people who made similar accusations,” O’Neil said.

Weapons, drugs and money were also found during the dawn raid at the place. The police think it could be the hub of a national slavery organisation operating globally and believe that other suspects they intended to arrest had left the site, taking with them other slaves.

The operation included some 200 officers, including marksmen and dog handlers, supported by a police helicopter and human trafficking experts.