British police said they
arrested two people on Thursday after three women were rescued from a London
home after being held against their will for up to 30 years.
Officers from the London
Metropolitan Police Service human trafficking unit detained a man and a woman,
both aged 67, at their home in south London on Thursday morning.
Police said in a statement that
the arrests were part of an investigation into slavery and domestic servitude
sparked in October when the Freedom Charity reported receiving a call from a
woman who said she had been held against her will in the house for more than 30
years.
Further enquiries led to the house
and, with the help of negotiations conducted by the charity, the rescue of the
three women: a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a 57-year-old Irish woman and a
30-year-old British woman.
“All three women, who were
highly traumatised, were taken to a place of safety where they remain,” the
statement added.
Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland
said a television documentary on forced marriages relating to the work of the
Freedom Charity was the catalyst that prompted one of the victims to call for
help and led to their rescue.
Last month, the first Global
Slavery Index by the charity Walk Free Foundation revealed there were nearly 30
million people living as slaves in 162 countries and that Britain was not
immune to the problem.
Although ranked 160th on the
list, there were still estimated to be more than 4,000 slaves in Britain, an
estimate that the index judged to be conservative.
(Reuters)
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