Two women rescued from Saudi diplomat's home after it was raided for human trafficking

Immigration officials raided diplomatic mansion in U.S. on Tuesday night

Women suspected to have been 'victims of domestic servitude'

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials aided by local police

Villa believed to house Saudi Arabia's defence attach é

Two women have been rescued from a U.S. diplomatic mansion owned by Saudi Arabia amid concerns they were being kept as domestic slaves.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided the villa in McLean, Virginia - which is owned by the Saudi Armed Forces Office and believed to house its defence attach é - on Tuesday night and removed two workers from the Philippines who are suspected to have been the 'victims of domestic servitude'.



One woman reportedly tried to flee by squeezing through a gap in the front gate as it was closing.

This house in McLean owned by the government of Saudi Arabia, was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) officials on a report of human trafficking

An ICE official says agents went to the home in McLean on Tuesday night and removed the two possible victims of domestic servitude

Scandals involving wealthy families treating foreign maids like slaves are common in the Arab peninsula, and human rights groups have campaigned for better treatment of domestic workers there following instances of physical abuse and rape.

Yet it is rare that western governments discover the same scandalous practices on their own doorsteps.

Immigration officials said the investigation is not complete, and that the workers were removed to 'protect their safety if in fact the accusations turn out to be true' according to one report.



It is not yet clear if the women alerted authorities or if someone else called them in.



Fairfax County police were called in to help.

A preferred residence of Congressmen, diplomats and high-earning government employees, McLean lies just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C., offering a fast commute for those whose day jobs take them into the city.

ICE spokesman Brandon Montgomery says if investigators get reasonable information or confirmation, they would 'rescue the individuals and begin a full investigation, not let them linger in potential abuse'.



If ICE officials do determine a crime has been committed, a possibility exists that no charges will be filed due to diplomatic immunity.

Recent arms sales from the U.S. to the oil rich kingdom included one deal in 2011 which reached around £40billion - almost the same as UK’s entire annual defence budget.



Vehicles with diplomatic license plates were seen coming and going from the compound on Wednesday, but no one there would comment to journalists from agencies.



A spokesperson for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia could not be reached for comment by the Associated Press.



'Domestic servitude': One of the woman reportedly tried to flee through the gates of the diplomatic mansion as they were closing

However, one local politician was vocal and aired his views about the wider question of trafficking.



'There could be hundreds of people brought to this country and placed in involuntary servitude, essentially as slaves, either for domestic help or as a sex slave,' Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf told website WTOP.



Mr Wolf says that if the reports from the McLean home turn out to be true, then the State Department should get involved.



'We should tell those people they have to leave the country and I think the State Department ought to make it clear to the Saudi government that this must never happen again, period,' he said.



Yet it is not the first time that the elite from oil rich Gulf countries have been caught treating foreign workers as slaves.



In 2008, a scandal involving a wealthy Emirati family staying in Brussels' upmarket Conrad Hotel - the preferred choice of world leaders who attend EU Summits in the Belgian capital - made headlines around the world.



A police operation was triggered by the apparent escape of a maid who was among 20 servants working for the widow of a senior royal figure from the United Arab Emirates and her four daughters who had rented the entire fourth floor of the hotel.



Officials took away 17 people, from countries including the Philippines, Morocco, India, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Syria, amid allegations they had been held captive for eight months.



Several members of the royal party have been questioned, police said at the time, but no charges were brought.



The servants, dubbed 'slaves' in the Belgian media, allegedly had to be at the service of the Arab royals 24 hours a day and had their passport taken away on arrival in Belgium. The women were reportedly not allowed to leave the hotel and their monthly salaries were as low as £80 a month.

'Homeland Security Investigations DC did encounter two potential victims of trafficking and the investigation is ongoing,' a D.C.-based spokesman for ICE/Homeland Security investigations told NBCNews4.