People destined for a modern-day ‘slave trade’ are using Stranraer and Cairnryan ports to gain access to Scotland, according to a new report out this week.
Amnesty International say that the two ferry terminals have been used to bring these people in and out of Scotland for mostly agricultural labour, but there have been instances of sex trafficking detected.
Scotland despite only having 10 percent of the UK’s population, accounts for 13.5 percent of its human trade and many of the victims are not being identified by authorities.
The report, ‘Human Trafficking - Scotland’s 21st Century Slaves’ was launched in Edinburgh this week and says that trafficking cases have been found in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, Grangemouth, Stirling and Tayside - many of whom are believed to have been brought in via Stranraer, which sees 1.9million passengers and 900,000 vehicles pass through each year.
They involved victims from Lithuania, Slovakia, Nigeria, China, Estonia, Somalia, Thailand, Guinea and Russia.
Amnesty International UK director, Kate Allen, said: “To date, most attention has been given to the plight of women trafficked into the sex trade, but we have also found evidence of trafficking into Scotland for domestic and agricultural labour.
“The case information we have been given also shows there are different methods of trafficking and different routes into Scotland.
“We have come across an example of marriage being used as a mechanism of trafficking women into Scotland for sexual exploitation. And we have seen cases of trafficked persons being recovered at the port of Stranraer.
“The fight against trafficking has been very much police led in the UK, but we know that many victims of trafficking will never disclose their situation to a police officer because they fear shame, deportation or reprisals from their traffickers.”
The report called on the Scottish Government to extend the support provided to women trafficked into sexual exploitation to other forms of trafficking.
It also called on Scots ministers to work with the Crown Office to ensure that trafficking victims were not prosecuted for crimes, such as using false travel documents, committed as part of their ordeal.
Over 1,000 illegal immigrants have been caught at the port of Stranraer in the past four years from 67 different countries and local police said earlier this year that they would come down hard on organised crime at the ports.
Detective Chief Inspector Steven Carr who works at the ports unit said: “Our primary function is protection of UK security but during the course of our work we come across other offences.
“We have reported a number of people to the fiscal for the facilitating of people into the UK and it is a well documented process that organised crime groups make a lot of money out of charging people extortionate amounts to come into the UK.”
He added: “We were also involved in Operation Pentameter on the trafficking of people for use in the sex trade. The smallest force in the UK still gets to deal with the biggest issues.”