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Malaysian Women Rescued from London Sex Ring.

June 11, 2006

Nineteen Malaysian women were rescued from two brothels during a pre-dawn crackdown on a multi-million ringgit human-trafficking racket.  

Thirteen of the women were found in a six-bedroom townhouse in Hyde Park, west London, and six others in another brothel in Birmingham. A source said they were Malaysians aged between 19 and 25.  Police described the case as the largest number of sex trafficking victims involving Malaysians rescued in a single operation.  ¹

The raids, which took place in Paddington, Soho and Golders Green in London, as well as in Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire and Birmingham, were executed following a five-month intelligence operation. Chief Supt Ian Dyson, head of London Metropolitan Police clubs and vice special unit, said: “We believe we have successfully dismantled the British end of a suspected trafficking network.  

“I hope this operation will send out a clear message to the organisers of this vile trade that we will find them, and we will seize their assets.   “I would also like to say to the men who use prostitutes ‘you are fuelling this trade.’ Do the right thing and contact us if you have any information about women being trafficked.”  

The women will be given access to health professionals, interpreters and specially trained sexual offences investigators. All 19 women have been taken to the Sundbury Detention Centre outside London, where Malaysian High Commission officials were interviewing them till late yesterday.  

Twelve men, including the suspected Vietnamese ringleader of the racket, were also detained during the raids. The leader was believed to have paid £6,000 (RM39,000) a month rental for the upmarket premises in Hyde Park which had been turned into a brothel for businessmen.  

The suspect and his girlfriend were arrested when police burst into a hotel room in Golders Green. The place had been under surveillance for several days. They were detained on suspicion of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.  

More than 50 police officers from Scotland Yard’s clubs and vice unit took part in Operation Pentameter, a nationwide campaign launched in February to help women trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution. Police were conducting investigations through Interpol into the network suspected of trafficking the women into Heathrow Airport from Malaysia.  

Vice squad officers estimated that more than 2,000 women are trafficked into Britain to work as prostitutes every year. Last month, local press reports highlighted how gangsters used budget airlines, coaches and the Eurostar train service to bring the women into Britain, mainly from Eastern Europe. However, there had also been at least one case where several Chinese nationals were caught in France using fake Malaysian passports believed to have been supplied by syndicates.

¹ Adapted from: CHOI TUCK WO. ‘Malaysian women rescued from London sex ring,’ The Star Online. 11 May 2006.