Human traffickers use social homes to house victims

Superintendent Bernie Gravett, head of Operation Golf, which works internationally to stop the trafficking of children between Romania and the UK, said victims were being placed in both private and socially rented homes by trafficking gangs.

He said councils and housing associations should check their homes regularly to make sure that they are not being used by traffickers.

‘Often there are no checks made by the landlords concerning the use of their property,’ he said. ‘The gang will use a family to rent an address but if police attention is drawn to the family, the gang will move them and substitute them with other families.’

Gang masters were using fake papers to prove Romanian people had been in the country for a year in order to access housing and other benefits, he added. ‘Many are forced to live in overcrowded and extremely poor accommodation in the private and social housing sector,’ superintendent Gravett added. He said 450 homes across the UK were linked to gangs, with 260 in London.

Housing authorities do check the condition of their stock but ‘are not doing what they should be’ to prevent trafficking, he said.

‘Anyone owning a property that’s let out should regularly check that property for the condition and make sure the appropriate people are there,’ he said.

Richard Tacagni, head of function (housing) at the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services, said: ‘Councils are as keen as anyone else that such goings-on are not tolerated.’