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Daily Record
4 days ago
- Daily Record
Sex for Sale: Trade in human flesh moved off streets as traffickers made millions promising women new lives
Many women who now advertise sex services online in Scotland are also the victims of ruthless people trafficking gangs Fifteen years ago much of the street prostitution which blighted Scotland had disappeared. Women were now advertising their services online on adult websites from flats, hotels and even AirBnb. There they could meet their clients in the relative safety of their own homes. On the surface it looked as though it was safer for the women and posed fewer problems for the police. A case of out of sight and out of mind. But in many cases it was replaced by a far more serious problem for both the police and women - sex trafficking. Organised crime groups were quick to see the riches to be made from selling sex on the new adult websites and controlling the women who supplied the services. Victims were lured from their homes in Eastern Europe and Asia to Scotland with promises of a new life only to be sold as sex slaves and a life of misery in flats which had been turned into brothels. Their services were then being advertised on the same adult websites as the new generation of women who had chosen to work there rather than on the streets. For the police one problem had been replaced with another A number of cases in the last year have shown the horrifying extent of the problem and the millions that the ruthless gangs are making. In May a police Proceeds of Crime investigation revealed how convicted sex trafficker Jagpal Singh, 55 - who duped Chinese women into travelling to Scotland and forcing them into prostitution - had made more than £2.6 million from the evil trade in human flesh. He was already serving a 10 year jail term imposed in 2022 at the High Court in Glasgow. Singh, his partner Donglin Zhang,51, and Albanian Vlassis Ntaoulias,35, had set up a network of brothels across the city. A fourth Thai citizen Boonsong Wannas, 62, helped them bring women from Asia who were then were forced to provide sex services. Their business was abruptly ended after police visited one of their seven brothel premises and found a distressed Chinese woman inside who revealed she'd been forced to sell her body. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Last October in a separate Proceeds of Crime case, a Chinese crime gang that trafficked vulnerable women and forced them to work in brothels in Glasgow and Edinburgh were found to have made almost £5million from their misery. Xiao Min, 39, Qin Huang, 31, and Guolei Huang, 35, were captured as part of Operation Fasthold, a joint Police Scotland and Home Office investigation and jailed for a total of 20 years and nine months in June last year. At the time Detective Chief Inspector Iain Nelson of Police Scotland said: "We estimated that somewhere between £3.5million and £5million of revenue was being taken from their activities. That gave us an impression of the scale at which they were operating.' Qin's role was the daily management of the trafficked women, who were mostly from east Asia, and overseeing the advertising of sexual services on adult websites. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. Guolei, who was jailed for four years and three months, was a "minder" who escorted and managed the women while they acted as prostitutes. Xiao, who was described as the "mastermind" of the operation, was sentenced to eight years and nine months behind bars. His role was to supervise the renting of several properties in Glasgow and Edinburgh for use as brothels and provide false papers to landlords to hide the fact that the women were being trafficked. Another case of sex workers being exploited online involved Thai brothel madam Mananchaya Wanitthanawet who operated brothels from AirBnb. The 44 year-old trafficked women from Thailand to Scotland to become prostitutes and was jailed for nine years in November at the High Court in Dundee. Victims were lured to Scotland under false pretences. One of the women was promised work as a masseuse but was put up in a flat in Dundee and had to offer sex to clients. Initially she was told to pay £35,000 to Wanitthanawet for helping her come to the UK in 2019 but that was then increased to £90,000. Wanitthanawet was convicted of recruiting and transporting the women and forcing them into prostitution over a three year period. Karen Miller of anti-trafficking charity Restore Glasgow believes that the vast majority of sex workers who now advertise online are victims of abuse and exploitation in one form or another and may be no better off than those who used to work as street prostitutes. She said:"It is nothing like the movie Pretty Woman. "Many of these women are lured into prostitution by the sex traffickers with the promise of romance, a home, or a better life. "They are innocents, then they find out what is expected of them. "There is also straight up violence. "I have heard of women being forcibly taken of the street - in Albania - before being sent abroad. "There is also the promise of fake jobs such as hairdressing and au pairs. "Once they are out the country there is no way back." Karen believes few if any women ever go into sex work through choice. She added:"I have never actually met one. I couldn't say they don't exist. "I think they are like the unicorn. Hard to find. "If you bring the women in from abroad they are easier to exploit and they don't know the language or where they are. "I have met women who have been trafficked in the sex industry and it is only when they have escaped that they have found out what city they are in and in some cases the country." Karen is not convinced that moving online from the streets has made sex worker 's lives better. She added:"The immediate situation might be better in terms of being cleaner and warmer and possibly less violence. "It just means it is much harder for them to get help as no one know where they are." ENDS
Times
13-05-2025
- Times
Sex trafficker made £2.6m luring Chinese women into prostitution
A sex trafficker who duped Chinese women into travelling to Scotland and forced them into prostitution made more than £2.5 million from crime, a court was told. Jagpal Singh, 55, was given a ten-year jail term in September 2022 after proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow. He teamed up with his partner Donglin Zhang, 51, and an Albanian Vlassis Ntaoulias, 35, to set up a network of brothels across Glasgow. The three were joined by Boonsong Wannas, 62, a Thai citizen, who helped them bring in women from Asia who were forced to provide sex services between August 2018 to February 2020. Their business came crashing down after police visited one of their premises and found a distressed Chinese woman inside who revealed she'd
