UK’s criminal gangs running modern slaves

A UK government regulator says crime cartels are in control of thousands of modern day slaves in the country.

According to Press TV, Chief Executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, Paul Broadbent added that there is thought to be more than 13,000 people in the UK who are being exploited as cheap foreign labour by organised criminal gangs.

The authority is currently investigating 300 gang leaders suspected of trafficking foreign workers, although it’s feared the number of could be much higher.

Broadbent said trafficking human beings for labour exploitation offered high profits while the risk of prosecution was fairly low.

Anyone found supplying illegal workers can be jailed for up to ten years and fined, while people employing from an unlicensed gang leader can be fined and jailed for a year.

Broatbent criticized the sentences which had been handed out to those convicted of using modern day slaves.

Last November, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, described the widespread scale of abuse as ‘shocking’.