By Sean O’Riordan
Thursday, July 07, 2011
GARDAÍ are investigating a potential case of human trafficking following a raid on a suspected brothel which resulted in the arrests of two women.The raid was carried out in Midleton, Co Cork, after plainclothes gardaí carried out a lengthy surveillance on a house in the town.
They became suspicious after a number of men were seen calling to the house on a regular basis.
A senior garda said it was believed the house had been used as a brothel for quite some time before the raid took place on Tuesday afternoon.
Two young women, described as being non-Irish nationals, were arrested at the house and taken to Midleton Garda Station for questioning.
They were detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
However, one of them complained about feeling unwell and was later transferred to a hospital in Cork for a medical examination.
The Garda surveillance operation was carried out by local detectives.
No men were arrested during the raid. It is the first time a suspected brothel has been targeted in the east Cork town.
A Garda spokesman said the primary concern was to ensure young women were not being exploited.
"The investigation is at a very early stage, but we are investigating possible links to human trafficking," the spokesman said.
Gardaí have indicated there may be further arrests, with police services in other countries potentially becoming involved.
Human trafficking, gardaí emphasised, is not confined to the sex industry, with some cases where people have been trafficked to work as virtual slaves in other businesses.
The Midleton case comes a week after Ireland was labelled a destination, source and transit location for the crime in Europe.
The US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report, detailed in the Irish Examiner last Wednesday, said last year saw 75 Irish-based investigations into human trafficking suspects — nine higher than 2009.
The document described Ireland as a "Tier 1" country, meaning that it is "a destination, source and transit country for women, men and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour".
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 07, 2011
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- Five held in suspected brothel raid - Crime, UK - The Independent (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
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