This is London - Women are being sold into prostitution in modern day “slave auctions” at Britain’s airports, it emerged yesterday.
The illegal immigrants are sold to the highest bidder for up to £8,000 a time. They are then forced to work in brothels where they can earn up to £800 a day for their “owner”.
The chilling reality of human trafficking was spelled out yesterday by senior police officers at Scotland Yard.
Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting, of the Metropolitan Police, said young women from all over the world are trafficked into Britain after being promised well-paid work in bars or cafes.
But within hours of their arrival, they are sold to pimps. The youngest known girl victim was just 14.
In one notorious case, women were openly sold outside a coffee shop at Gatwick Airport.
Officers believe women are frequently raped, locked in flats and given no money to prevent them from running away from their captors.
Mr Ponting said: “There is some intelligence to suggest that individuals are sold at locations close to airports. One woman could fetch between £6,000 and £8,000. She could then earn her buyer £800 a day. It is appalling.
“These traffickers are making huge amounts of money from it and that is what we are trying to break. It has become a market.

Posted: 03|8|07 at 8:13 am. Filed under: UK News.