'Al Capone' raids target trafficked foreign workers

A specialist police team says it is using "Al Capone" tactics to root out businesses that exploit victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

The East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) is raiding vape shops and car washes that are suspected of links to organised crime.

It is also inviting agencies with powers to search for evidence of everything from illegal immigration and tax fraud to breaches of food standards and building regulations.

The team's leader, Mark Taylor, says it is similar to the approach that was used to jail the notorious American gangster, Al Capone - who was suspected of several murders but prosecuted for tax evasion.

The BBC joined a dramatic raid on several businesses around a sprawling building in Nottingham that appeared to be used as unlicensed accommodation.

Local officers jump out of a convoy of vans shouting "stop where you are" - and within seconds they handcuff two men who bolted across the car park.

One team smashes through the glass door of a restaurant, while another uses two circular saws to cut through the shutters of a shisha bar.

More officers head to a neighbouring car wash and surround the rest of the building.

Taylor says they are responding to concerns that workers may be have been trafficked to the UK, to work illegally, and be kept as "modern day slaves".

"Sometimes they or their families will have had to pay extortionate sums of money, and when the victims are brought into the country they are in debt bondage."

Debt bondage is where a person is forced to work for free to pay off a debt, child slavery, forced marriage, domestic servitude and forced labour, where victims are made to work through violence and intimidation.

"So they have to work, sometimes having their passport and documentation taken off them, their identities hijacked so the traffickers can use their identities to claim benefits, which will go to fund further crime," says Taylor.

"Then the victims of trafficking, undocumented, are moved around the UK to work in these businesses and never hardly work off their debts to the criminals that are using them."

The raid involved about 60 officers and investigators from Nottinghamshire Police, Immigration Enforcement, the Department for Work and Pensions, and local licensing and trading standards officers.

Inside, they forced their way into what they described as a "labyrinth" of substandard makeshift accommodation, which will now be inspected by the fire service and council licensing officers.

Taylor describes them as "rooms within rooms within rooms" - with only a mattress, a sheet and a pillow - which are clear sign of possible human trafficking.

"A space probably twice the size of a bath tub is somebody's home, and we also have to remember (that for) some people trafficked into the country, that is sometimes better than the accommodation in their own country".

Ten people were detained and fingerprinted to determine their immigration status and whether they have the right to work - four were identified as illegal workers.

Taylor says they may be flagged to the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery, and their employers could face a fine of up to £60,000 per worker.

Nearby two sniffer dogs searched cars for tobacco before being led inside.

Officers from HMRC soon emerged with three large sacks containing 36kg of shisha tobacco, which they suspect has been imported without tax.

The neighbouring restaurant was inspected by Nottingham City Council licensing officers.

Taylor says they were concerned about substandard food being sold to the public after being cooked in unhygienic conditions.

Officers also found chemicals from the car wash running off into the water system, so they called the Environment Agency.

"Rather than just trying to arrest our way out of problems, each agency have their own powers and investigative skills - we use all those powers to disrupt organised crime, like the Al Capone (approach)".

EMSOU says a pro-active investigation into suspected fraud offences is continuing, and that no-one has been arrested.

This week the government announced a national £30m High Street organised crime unit after a series of BBC investigations into illegal mini-marts, vape shops and barbers.

Taylor says while his team's priority is safeguarding victims of trafficking, they are also identifying "poly-criminality that sits behind organised crime".

He adds that those criminals are also undercutting legitimate businesses and defrauding the public purse.

"They will try any and all means necessary and unfortunately that involves the ill-treatment of human beings who earn their money."

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