An investigation was launched last year after the force received intelligence about a suspected Lithuanian organised crime group understood to be operating in Newcastle. Later enquiries led officers to believe that a factory had been set up in North Shields and men were being trafficked from Eastern Europe to work across the region.
It is suspected that the men worked as charity bag collectors through a third party and that they would travel across the city to collect donations of clothes.
They would then hand the clothing back to the factory where they are then sold overseas with a cut of the proceeds then expected to go to the charity in question.
Trafficking
Superintendent Steve Barron, who is leading the operation explained that police do not believe that any of the charities involved would know that those collecting their bags were potentially victims of modern day slavery and human trafficking.
He added: “Often individuals don’t realise that they are victims and the small wage they earn in this country often exceeds anything they would earn in their home country.”
Northumbria Police stated that it believes the suspects in this case run a legitimate business that is then used as a front for the criminal activity that is being committed.
The business buys in thousands of the charity bags from abroad before distributing them to their workers who will hand them out to the public.
The clothing from the collected bags is then sold abroad and the company take a cut of the money. The charities involved would be completely unaware that many of the employees are potentially slavery victims.
HMRC are also running a separate investigation to establish whether any of the proceeds from the business are going to the charities in question.
Industry view
Alan Wheeler, director at the Textiles Recycling Association commented that he is pleased the police are clamping down on the practice, having aired similar concerns in the past. He said: “We have received similar reports of businesses employing Eastern European officers and paying cash in in hand and not paying National Insurance, taxes etc. Though it isn’t 100%, I have aired concerns in the past.”
Mr Wheeler added that he “wasn’t surprised” that the raid took place and that he was “very pleased the police are taking this seriously”. He said: “To me it highlights the need for what we’ve called for, which is a national register of collectors. We need a register which is independently audited and which is agreed with stakeholders as to what is required of a good door-to-door collector, in which people are audited first. This has to be industry-led and we have to up our own game too.”
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