BROKEN BRITAIN How slaves are hidden in plain sight across the UK & the signs your local business is employing them as we join cop raid

FRANTICALLY trying to get away from cops, a man launches himself over a spiked fence, which cuts open his inner thigh.

Police believe that he and several other men are working at a car wash illegally and might be victims of exploitation.

 

 

 

Officers are hot on his trail, and sirens can be heard as cars speed around the backroads to cut him off.

The man has fled a car wash seconds after spotting a group of police making their way en masse as he jet washes a grey Cupra Formentor.

He’s eventually found hiding in a shed in the hopes he won’t be questioned by immigration officials about his documents.

The man is one of eight staff believed to be illegally working at Central Auto Carwash in South Manchester. Police are now investigating if the men are being exploited or are victims of modern slavery.

All of them had to be chased down by cops as they fled in different directions.

The Sun joined the cops on two days of action across the city into organised immigration crime, and watched as the investigation got underway.

During questioning by Greater Manchester Police, the men claimed that they weren’t asked to show right-to-work documents and were required to wash cars eight hours a day, six days a week.

And chances are they’re in a pretty miserable situation outside of work, too. Most of the men are from Pakistan, and as they are working illegally, it is unlikely they are being paid minimum wage.

Detective Chief Inspector Abigail Cronin, head of GMP’s Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit, tells the Sun: “We find people sleeping in absolutely horrendous conditions. They don’t have a bed. There’s just a mat on the floor.

“There can be overcrowding in the houses, and they might not know where they are.

“Often they have one poor source of income, which isn’t what they were promised, and that can be in any capacity from car washes to nail salons.

“They don’t know a way out of their situation; they might be worried about contacting the police for help, or they have a family back home that they still need to support.

“Victims of organised immigration crime are stuck in their situation.

“These people come from all walks of life and will often end up in a situation they weren’t expecting to be in. Initially, they may not realise they are being exploited.

“Victims we’ve supported through long-scale complex investigations are traumatised, and you might not even realise that they are the person serving you in a shop or elsewhere.”

Many illegal workers are trafficked to the UK and given the promise of a better life, before being forced into modern slavery or, in the case of women, sex work.

Often gangs promise workers a better life in the UK with a good job and accommodation, but when they arrive it’s hard work for little pay, and they are made to live in overcrowded houses.

Then, once here, they can have their passports taken off them or threats of violence against their families back home used to control them.

Car washes are a well-known job where illegal workers are exploited, and this one is directly opposite a Manchester police station.

The cops have been tipped off that multiple men are working there illegally, leading them to make investigations for a few weeks before conducting a visit with trading standards.

Initially, they believe there are four men, one of whom is working despite having applied for asylum, but as they walk over the road, eight men in total run away.

Within seconds, screaming and sirens are heard as cars race to help catch the men, as officers on foot start running after the suspects.

Police are still considering if they will bring charges in relation to immigration offences.

Prices for a wash at the business start from £12, and a mini-valet from £25.

Charities warn that a wash costing any less than £5 means it’s likely being done by modern slaves.

Other signs of modern slavery according to charity Unseen include avoiding eye contact, rarely travelling alone and seem unfamiliar with the neighbourhood.

For establishments like nail bars, workers could be potential modern slavery victims if they seem to work long hours with no breaks, and appear to have a language barrier.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Griffith, of the Organised Immigration Crime Domestic Task Force, tells The Sun: “Immigration is a good thing as long as it’s controlled and safe.

“Organised crime can benefit from illegal immigration on our high streets, and individuals are being brought into this country so that they can be exploited.

“There is no doubt about that. People who are brought into the grey economy can end up working in service sector industries for low wages with no protection under employment law.

“By stopping organised immigration crime, we can prevent these criminal businesses from undercutting legitimate businesses employing people the correct way.

 

 

 

“Employing people for lower than minimum wage, or selling illegal commodities, are ways organised immigration crime is damaging our high street.

“This is not punitive, this is about improving our communities and educating those individuals at their running businesses, and ensuring they’re being regulated properly within the laws of the UK.”

The raids are part of a nationwide week of cracking down on organised immigration crime across 39 police forces under Operation Lockstream.

They are done in partnership with police, Immigration Enforcement, Trading Standards and HMRC, and others to ensure all risk areas are tackled.

Nationally, 911 businesses were visited by police and immigration officers, resulting in 362 arrests, £1million in cash seized and more than £700,000 worth of illicit tobacco, cigarettes and vapes confiscated.

Last year, The Sun on Sunday revealed car washes have been fined up to £3milion for hiring illegal workers by the government. Central Auto Car Wash was not one of them.

In November last year, a car wash owner in Mitcham, south London, was jailed for eight years and six months for exploiting and trafficking illegal workers from Romania.

Hewa Margai, 45, of Carshalton Road, Mitcham, was found guilty of eight counts of holding a person in slavery or servitude.

One of the men he’d brought over and forced to work was a 15-year-old boy. Cops discovered Margai’s victims were deprived of their basic human rights and routinely subjected to physical, mental and psychological abuse.

Management at Margai’s Mictcham car took documents from the eight men, leaving them trapped.

 

 

It’s a common picture across the UK. In Carlisle, Cumbria, Defrim Paci, 42 and Sitar Ali, 33, were jailed in 2021 for a modern slavery ring related to their car wash.

Romanian workers were forced to work 11 hours a day, up to seven days a week and then paid just £20.

One man told the court how hot water had “eaten away at his feet” after working nine days in a row without correct equipment.

Another said: “I was treated like a piece of garbage by those running the place.”

It took police a four-year investigation to get the case to court and secure the conviction of the men.

It is not known if the men at the car wash in Manchester are modern slavery victims, but police believe they are, at the very least, being exploited.

Also on GMP’s list of targets are a variety of businesses, including takeaways, nail shops, barbers and more.

Nail salons often exploit Vietnamese nail technicians, as they arrive in the UK already trained from their home country. Car washes vary from having Pakistani to Eastern European men working for very little pay.

A rising hotspot for illegal workers being exploited and the sale of dangerous or illegal products is mini-markets.

Less than two miles away from the car wash is the cops’ next target – a mini market.

They’ve been told by locals that a shop on the Curry Mile – Wilmslow Road in Rusholme – has been forcing illegal migrants to work for him.

The bright purple shop is stacked to the brim with electronics, kids’ toys and sweets, making it difficult for the team of eight cops to squeeze in and search it.

During their inspection with trading standards, The Sun understands that several unlawful children’s squishy toys were seized alongside illicit tobacco and illegal vapes.

It’s believed that the sale of illicit tobacco costs the Treasury more than £1.7bn in lost tax revenue.

It was one of several mini-markets being targeted by the boys in blue over the intensification period on organised crime.

But for cops, the most important part of the day is helping protect people who are being exploited because they cannot legally work.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Woodburn manages organised crime on a district level. He tells The Sun: “Often people are sold a false dream where they’re told they will be given employment in the UK, but when they arrive they are given work in cash businesses, such as car washes, and sometimes sexual exploitation in brothels.

“What we’re hoping is that we can go into these establishments and safeguard people, but also generate further intelligence, which means we’ll be able to continue to target these premises outside of the days of action.”

And Forced Labour Charity Unseen tells The Sun how vital it is for police to try and get the perpetrators of the exploitation.

Hilary Agg, head of policy and research at Unseen, says: “The survivors are the most important thing in modern slavery.

“To be able to pursue traffickers, a lot of the time, law enforcement need to be able to engage survivors to be able to build that trust so that they can start to begin to explain what’s happened to them and provide the evidence that’s needed to go after the traffickers.

“We are really advocating for greater resources for law enforcement to be able to build financial investigations.

 

 

 

“Modern slavery is an economic crime. We need to be able to go after the money, hit them where it hurts, and build that evidence base so that wherever possible, survivors aren’t being re-traumatised by having to tell their story over and over again.”

All of the visits taken across the week by GMP were led by intelligence from members of the public, before being verified by police and other partners.

DCI Cronin adds: “We’re not just going to put a plaster on the problem. Organised Immigration Crime is tied up in many things from modern slavery to money laundering and drugs.

“GMP’s intelligence and understanding of this area continues to grow. We are passionate about rooting out the people who are exploiting very vulnerable people, and our officers are trained to spot it.

“We can’t do this on our own, we need all of our partners and that includes the public helping us find who needs our help.”

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris says: “These results are yet another example of targeted collaboration between the police, Immigration Enforcement, and other partners, to crack down on organised immigration crime.

“We are using every lever we have to loosen the grip of criminal gangs on our high streets.

“This specific action comes alongside illegal working visits and arrests being at their highest level in British history, and our action to return nearly 70,000 people with no right to be here since coming into power.”