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Gardai have smashed a suspected international people trafficking ring in raids across an Irish city.

Several addresses were raided by gardai, social welfare officers and other agencies on Thursday, April 11.

And behind a Chinese shop in Cork city, they found 13 to 14 rooms converted into bedrooms for trafficked migrants in horrific conditions.

Sources said that the operation is run by a former Chinese national, now Irish passport holder, who has links to serious organised crime in his homeland.

The man is also suspected to be one of the biggest organisers of cannabis grow houses in Ireland.

A source said: "There has clearly been a complaint made by an immigrant. This man is trafficking hundreds of impoverished Chinese nationals into the country to work as slaves.

"As gardai went in to the address several people ran from the building - two people were arrested for having no documents.

"The belief is that this was an organised location for Chinese nationals when trafficked in to the country, but they were in horrific conditions.

"One of the men was staying on a mattress inside a store room, others were in bunk beds.

"The chief suspect for running the operation is heavily involved in cannabis grow houses, in which he uses trafficked people to cultivate the drugs for him."

Gardai and other agencies have struggled to crack into the Chinese people trafficking underworld.

A source explained: "The Chinese community are very tight knit and are very fearful of these people.

"There is significant organised crime involved in this operation and crosses a lot of borders.

"The people trafficked in here are taken advantage of and suffer a lot from these groups."

The United Nations Council of Ireland found earlier this year that the real rate of human trafficking into Ireland is 50% higher than official figures.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland said the estimate tallied with its experience and criticised the “onerous” process for identifying victims of trafficking here.

That research document, supported by the Department of Justice, compared the actual figure with the reported number to gardai.

The most recent figures show: there were 179 actual trafficking victims in Ireland in 2016, compared to a reported number of 95.

There were 153 actual victims in 2015 – compared to 78 in official figures.

The Department of Social Protection said it does not comment on individual cases.