Three women have been arrested following two raids carried out by Wiltshire Police on addressed in Swindon which were suspected of operating as brothels.
The warrants were executed yesterday evening, Thursday 29 June, around 8.45pm at a property on Valleyside and a property on Stafford Street.
Three Romanian women were at the address on Valleyside along with a Romanian man – all three women had been advertising sex work online via a website called Adultwork.
The women were spoken to and no offences of trafficking or coercion were disclosed. They were very open about their sex work and confirmed the profiles on Adultwork were their own, which they had set up and paid for.
The women state they had never had any bad experiences and that they do sex work of their own volition because they can earn more money than back in Romania.
The man claimed he was just visiting and was due to go back to Romania on Monday.
All three women were arrested for immigration offences and are currently in custody at Gablecross police station where they will be transferred to an immigration centre in the next few hours and deported back to Romania.
Two of the three women had been visited by Wiltshire Police’s HEET (Human Exploitation and Emerging Threats) team in April 2017 and given warnings about operating a brothel; despite this, the sex work continued.
At the address on Stafford Street, one Romanian woman sex worker was present who had also been spoken to in April 2017. She was served paperwork by immigration enforcement officers stating she must find legitimate work in the next 30 days.
Det Supt Craig Holden, head of Public Protection and force lead for Adult Sexual Exploitation said: “This is a very positive outcome as the women are now safe and away from their clients and are no longer vulnerable to the risks of off street sex work.
“This good work was a result of intelligence we received from local residents – the brothel is no longer operational which will reassure those in the community and shows that we will take action against this kind of behaviour in residential areas.
“We are committed to proactively policing the adult sex trade to ensure women employed in this industry are not being coerced, controlled or exploited and that ultimately they are safe and to ensure those offenders, responsible for exploiting these women by organising sex workers and premises, will be brought to justice.
“This was a great team effort involving HEET, our local policing teams, community coordinators, CID and immigration.
“There are strong connections between the adult sex industry, human trafficking and modern slavery and Wiltshire Police will continue to work hard to make sure that any cases of human exploitation are prioritised so offenders are caught and the victims removed to safety.”
“If you suspect any suspicious activity in your area, please call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where information can be left anonymously.”
