Police freed 24 men in the raid, including eight Britons. They were kept in squalid conditions in the Greenacre caravan site, near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.
Some had been forced to live in dog kennels, while others lived in caravans and horseboxes. They were threatened with violence if they tried to escape and some had endured captivity for as long as 15 years.
According to police sources, more than 100 people are believed to have been held in this way across the country, with some being trafficked to Scandinavia and across Britain to work.
Police say at least 60 slaves, mostly recruited from homeless centres, dole cues and from the streets, have been freed since March, when three Travellers’ camps in Glouchestershire, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire were raided. In those raids, 20 alleged victims were freed and four Travellers with the surname Connors were arrested and charged.
In June this year, another raid in Hampshire freed 14 alleged slaves and another two Connors were arrested and charged. A man with the surname Connors was also arrested in Denmark in August and is awaiting extradition to the UK.
“I am confident that while the investigation is in its early stages this is a family run ‘business’ and is an organised crime group that has been broken up,” said Detective Chief Inspector Sean O'Neil from the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, in a statement released to media.
“The men we found at the site were in a poor state of physical health and the conditions they were living in were shockingly filthy and cramped.
“We believe that some of them had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few weeks and others for up to 15 years,” said O'Neil.
The men were put to work at manual labour jobs, such as laying driveways or paving slabs. They were not paid for their work, police said.
“They’re recruited and told if you come here we‘ll pay you 80 pounds a day, we’ll look after you, give you board and lodgings,” said O’Neil.
“But when they get here, their hair is cut off them, they’re kept in some cases [in] horse trailers, dog kennels and old trailers, made to work for no money, [and] given very, very small amounts of food.
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“That’s the worst case. Some are treated a little bit better, but they were told they could not leave and if they did they would be beaten up and attacked.
“But in fact some people did leave and told us what was going on and when we looked back since 2008 we were aware of 28 people who had made similar accusations,” added O’Neil.
Nine of the people rescued from the site have chosen not to support the police investigation. The remaining 15 are staying at a medical reception centre and are being interviewed by police.
Paul Donohoe of Anti-Slavery International told The Epoch Times that “forced labour remains a problem in the UK and it exists in a number of industries. Agriculture, farming, construction, even in the cities in factories, in hotels, cleaners and restaurants: these are all industries where forced labour unfortunately remains a reality.”
“Even in private homes we know domestic workers who are trapped in homes and unable to escape their situation. Even in a place like the UK, unscrupulous bosses and criminal gangs do exploit individuals to such an extent that it is slavery. The government estimates that at any one time there are around 5,000 people in this situation in the UK,” said Donohoe.
New anti-slavery legislation was passed last year in the UK and means suspects risk up to 14 years in prison if found guilty.
According to Donohoe, British slavery victims are often homeless and vulnerable.
“In the UK the majority of people who are referred to the authorities as potential victims of slavery are foreigners. The number one source country, surprisingly for many people, is Nigeria; number two is China, number three is Vietnam.”
Donohoe says that of the victims, approximately 70 per cent are women. “A large number of women will be trafficked into forced prostitution,” he said, adding that men are typically trafficked into forced labour. “In fact around 30 per cent of all cases are for forced labour.”
The irregular migratory status of the slaves coming from outside the UK is used against them by crime bosses who threaten to report them to UK police if they try to escape.
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