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Eight organised crime groups are involved in human trafficking on Teesside - and there are still "substantial gaps" in how much is known.

That was just a small part of the message from Detective Chief Inspector Wendy Tinkler who leads work into modern slavery and human trafficking in the area.

Someone is guilty of human trafficking if they arrange or facilitate the travel of another person to be exploited.

Modern slavery is often intertwined with trafficking and victims are often trapped in a cycle of servitude, exploitation and forced labour.

DCI Tinkler gave a detailed run down of how the problem was being tackled on Teesside and cases where things hadn't gone to plan.

Active investigations

The Cleveland Police inspector said both human trafficking and modern slavery had been "areas of focus" for Teesside and neighbouring forces in the past 18 months.

"It's something we're just starting to lift the stone on in identifying our victims," she added.

"What we do recognise is there is substantial gaps - it's a new crime people do not perhaps understand."

(Image: Teesside Live)

The force was part of joint raids in Operation Kestrel in summer 2017 targeting “foreign national offenders".

Operation Cotton also saw dozens of people arrested on Teesside last year after allegations about a human trafficking trade between Teesside and Sheffield where alleged victims were sexually abused.

DCI Tinkler said investigations so far at the force were linked to adult labour at nail bars, car washes and fast food establishments.

She added: "We've had quite a few successes with our cannabis farms which tend to be Vietnamese individuals who claim they've been victims of trafficking."

A presentation prepared for the partnership also revealed investigations at the force into "Kurdish males sexually assaulting and trafficking vulnerable females across force boundaries".

(Image: PA)

DCI Tinkler said there was intelligence to suggest there is trafficking for sexual exploitation in Teesside.

She added: "We've got one particular investigation at the moment involving sexual exploitation which involves a Kurdish male group."

Better help for victims

Ensuring victims got proper support was a key aim, according to the leading officer.

An agreed "victim care pathway" to give those who report and survive abuse the care they need is being worked on by police, safeguarding teams at councils and a raft of other bodies.

But DCI Tinkler said one problem flagged up had been accommodation for those in strife.

"What we do tend to find is our victims can sometimes have their own complexities and vulnerabilities as a result of what they've suffered," she said.

"That can make it quite difficult to house them appropriately and to give follow-on victim care to give them the confidence to remain engaged with us so we can conduct investigations.

"One of our aims we want is we're offering victims the best support we can - so they have the confidence to come forward.

"That's what we need to do to get our prosecutions."

'Difficult to pursue in court'

By their very nature, modern slavery and trafficking cases are complex.

DCI Tinkler walked the panel through two investigations which had revealed some shortcomings.

The first was into two Vietnamese men found at a cannabis farm on Teesside who were arrested and interviewed.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

She explained how both claimed a "Section 45 defence" of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

It means those under the age of 18 are classed as victims - and it gives a defence to those being exploited through modern slavery to carry out crimes.

DCI Tinkler added: "So, although they are committing a crime by cultivating cannabis that gives them the defence.

"It's very difficult for us when we get to court because they do have this defence raised - it's not actually right to raise it and it's very difficult for us to overcome that because the burden of proof is on us to demonstrate they aren't victims."

Gone in the night

Both claimed they were under 18 and DCI Tinkler said this created more problems in finding someone properly qualified to assess their ages.

She added: "When we are arresting them at times of day when our services have gone home at 5pm and we're relying on emergency duty teams, accommodation is quite difficult.

"We have two males who are clearly adult males from their looks, however, tell us they are children.

"So how do we appropriately accommodate them?"

The Vietnamese males were put up in a property in Middlesbrough with a "South Asian male unknown to them".

But the house wasn't monitored or staffed overnight.

The inspector added: "As a result of that both males were collected during the night by people we believe have created this scenario to cultivate this cannabis farm.

"They were transported back to Northumbria and then put back into trafficking - both are still reported as missing."

(Image: Cleveland Police)

'Victim was classed as a servant'

DCI Tinkler said people often recognised there was a potential crime going on - but didn't make the link to human trafficking.

She raised the case of a victim of domestic servitude who'd revealed offences of modern day slavery at a Teesside police station.

She was put into the National Referral Mechanism - a purpose built body which determines whether people are victims of human trafficking and modern slavery and steers them towards help.

But the only accommodation available was in Hartington Road, Stockton - an area with a high crime rate in the town centre.

DCI Tinkler added: "I believe it's a premises that is used for possibly for people who have come out of custodial sentences and have drug and alcohol issues.

"The victim was accommodated but she contacted the police saying she felt vulnerable at those premises."

Sexual exploitation on Teesside The issue of sexual exploitation and how it can be tackled it has been a major one for authorities on Teesside. A report by Barnados in 2016 said local youngsters were being abused after attending house parties while takeaways and car washes were revealed to be connected to exploitation. Police have said their approach has focused on organised crime, gangs and drugs and perpetrators from a range of ethnicities including African, Asian, Eastern European and White British. The most high profile convictions in recent years came in 2014 when Sakib Ahmed, 19, and former taxi driver Shakil Munir, 32, were each given eight-year sentences while Ateeq Latif, 17, was sent to a young offenders' institution for three years for grooming and exploiting vulnerable schoolgirls. Anyone with concerns that a child is involved in sexual exploitation should contact police on 101.

The victim was moved on but DCI Tinkler said talks with those nearby who knew her family had some idea of what was going on.

"We found she had been basically brought over to this country and been classed as a servant.

"She hadn't been very well fed, hadn't been looked after very well at all.

"When we were doing our house to house enquiries - people actually said "is that the slave you are talking about?".

"That's how naive people can be - they don't understand that she was the victim and a trafficked victim who was being treated like a slave."

'Humiliated and reluctant'

DCI Tinkler said work was being done on the back of the gaps being found.

Another obstacle identified was victims having an instinctive mistrust of authority figures.

(Image: Teesside Live)

The inspector added: "We find our victims are often humiliated and reluctant to report - that depends on where they've been trafficked from and a mistrust of law enforcement agencies.

"They're basically fearful of talking to anybody with any kind of authority - particularly the police.

"And they may be concerned about their own family who they feel they have left behind."

The panel was told traffickers often knew family members of victims and could send threats back to homes countries to ensure they stayed in the criminal ring.

DCI Tinkler said those trafficked and exploited were often "not perfect victims" with problems of their own.

"They have their own vulnerabilities and sometimes they have drug and alcohol issues - sometimes they have issues which connect them very closely to the person who has trafficked them so they automatically gravitate back.

"There's lots of complexities there."

Defence of temporary housing

The inspector said "mystery shopper" exercises were being lined up to test the reaction of the force and other agencies late at night when more complex cases of modern slavery and human trafficking cropped up.

Cllr Jim Beall, cabinet member for adult social care and health, said he was pleased to hear there was progress was being made in responses.

But he told the panel provision of temporary housing in Stockton had been found to be good - adding "the reality was" most available temporary housing was mainly in Stockton town centre, near Hartington Road.

(Image: Stockton Council)

Cllr Beall said: "I wouldn't knock the provision just because it is where it's available.

"I'm not having a go. The housing is where the housing is - we cannot really change that.

"There aren't people in the leafy suburbs of this borough saying I will open up a B&B or some temporary accommodation and you can refer people over - it's where these landlords are."

He said a "bona fide" third sector organisation was working in the area to put people up.

Cllr Beall added: "I know a myriad of cases you could pick - and we could pick others dealt with through adult safeguarding - that give a much more positive response.

"The danger is we get an unbalanced view of what's going on - generally, the accommodation issue is not a major issue."