London -
Britain has appointed its first anti-slavery commissioner to counter growth in people-trafficking, Home Secretary Teresa May said on Thursday.
Former police detective Kevin Hyland has been given the role of fighting human trafficking and modern slavery.
“I've seen first-hand how modern slavery can devastate lives and rid people of their dignity and humanity,” Hyland said.
A report from the National Crime Agency said three-quarters of those trafficked to Britain, mostly as sex slaves or as cheap labour, were from Eastern Europe, with the most coming from Romania and Poland.
On the same day Hyland was appointed, 13 people were arrested in and around Manchester for their suspected role in bringing a pregnant 20-year-old Slovakian woman to Britain to be sold into a sham marriage that would have stopped the deportation of a foreign national. - Sapa-dpa