Slave trade 'still in operation Tuesday, 19 August 2008 A modern-day slave trade is in operation across Scotland, new research has suggested. Human rights charity Amnesty International said Scotland had 13.5% of the UK's trade in people The report, Human Trafficking - Scotland's 21st Century Slaves, said Scottish police raided more than 50 premises, resulting in 35 arrests and 59 people being dealt with as victims of trafficking during its specialist Operation Pentameter 2. Trafficking cases have been found in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, Grangemouth, Stirling and Tayside!! They involved victims from Lithuania, Slovakia, Nigeria,  China, Estonia, Somalia, Thailand, Guinea and Russia! "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.

Human trafficking awareness campaign launched The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and the Garda Commissioner are launching a major new awareness campaign on human trafficking It is based on the 'blue blindfold' concept, which was initially developed in the UK. It represents the risk of people having their eyes closed to crime, and not being aware of what is going on around them. A key purpose of the campaign is to encourage the public to report anything suspicious to Gardaí anonymously,  either through Crimestoppers or a new dedicated email address blueblindfold@garda.ie http://www.blueblindfold.co.uk/index.php