Many of the Vietnamese children who were arrested were discovered by the authorities in cannabis farms or in nail bars

More than 1,100 Vietnamese children suspected of being smuggled into Britain were arrested as criminals instead of being seen as potential victims of slavery, an investigation has found.

Data obtained by The Times through freedom of information requests suggests that some were put to work behind locked doors in cannabis farms.

Between 2012 and 2017, police arrested 1,133 Vietnamese children. The authorities refuse, however, to say what happened to those children subsequent to their detention and the Crown Prosecution Service holds no data on how many were prosecuted or convicted.

Vernon Coaker MP, Labour co-chairman of the parliamentary group on human trafficking and modern slavery, demanded that the government disclose what happened to the arrested children even if it embarrasses ministers who have pledged to