2,600 women trafficked into England and Wales

AT least 2,600 women have been trafficked into England and Wales and forced to work as prostitutes, a snapshot report published yesterday claims.

Police found 17,000 of the 30,000 women involved in the off-street sex trade are migrants, mostly from China, Thailand and eastern Europe. They said at least 2,600 of these were trafficked and made to work as prostitutes, often with threats of violence.

A further 9,600 sex workers at brothels and other premises were considered to be “vulnerable migrants”, but researchers could not be sure they had been trafficked into the country.