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Kent Police video of
their raids in Thanet and Canterbury

Nineteen human trafficking
victims were freed after police arrested a gang suspected of
enslaving them.

Officers found the eastern
Europeans as 12 properties were stormed in a series of
intelligence-led dawn raids yesterday.

Eleven suspects were arrested and
large amounts of cash, paperwork, passports and identity
papers seized.

It followed a two-year investigation
into an alleged human trafficking ring operating across east
Kent.

The gang are also believed to be
involved in theft, fraud and money laundering.

Officers from the joint the Kent and
Essex Serious Crime Directorate carried out the raids.

Most took place in the Canterbury
and Thanet areas.

The suspects include six men from
Thanet aged between 22 and 27, and two men and two women from
Canterbury aged between 29 and 31.

All 11 suspects have been quizzed by
police and released from custody pending further
investigation.

A woman from Surrey is also being
dealt with by the UK Border Agency in connection with alleged
immigration offences.

The 19 people found were taken to
a multi-agency reception centre in Canterbury where they have been
offered support and advice.

A number of translators were on
hand to assist the victims in their native languages, including
Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian.

DCI Andrea Bishop, from the Kent
and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said the operation had
been meticulously planned.

She said: "This is the culmination of
a detailed and complex two year investigation by officers from our
Serious Economic Crime Unit.

"It looked into an organised
criminal network operating in Kent who are involved in a number of
criminal enterprises including human trafficking, fraud and money
laundering.

"These criminals prey on and exploit
migrant workers, effectively running a modern day slavery
operation.

"A key part of the work we have done
over the last few days is to work with a number of partner agencies
to help victims break the grip this gang has on them, and we are
giving them all the help and support they need so they can rebuild
their lives free from this tyranny.

"The work does not stop here. My
investigative teams will continue processing all the new evidence
we have obtained and we will work with the Crown Prosecution
Service and other agencies to ensure anyone involved in this
organised criminality will be prosecuted to the full force of the
law."

Assistant Chief Constable Alan
Pughsley, who leads the Kent and Essex Serious Crime
Directorate, said: "We are sending out a clear message that we
will not tolerate criminals operating in our communities."