Eight slaves including teenage boy freed in police raid at a British caravan site

Bedfordshire, England:  Eight slaves - including a teenage boy - were freed in a dawn raid by police at a caravan site.

Sixty-five officers - including dog units and armed police - stormed in to arrest four people, acting on intelligence that a number of people were being held against their will and made to work.

A helicopter circled the skies overhead as Bedfordshire Police and the National Crime Agency raided the Greenacres caravan site near Leighton Buzzard, Beds.

Two men and two women were arrested and were being quizzed at police stations across Bedfordshire today about the alleged slavery. Two further men were arrested for obstructing a police officer and breach of the peace after clashing with the raiding officers.

Eight suspected victims - seven men aged between 20 and 46, and a 17-year-old boy - were found at the plots.

Chief Inspector Tania Coulson, who was leading the probe, said: "The men we found at the plot were in a poor state of physical health and the conditions they were living in were cramped and filthy.

"We believe that some of the victims had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few days or weeks, and others for many years.

"The offences being investigated are extremely serious. We understand that some people may have information about what has been happening, but have been too scared to come forward and report it."

The police said that not all of the victims were willing to go with the authorities out of fear but those that did were being looked after at a reception centre where they received health care and counselling.

Central Bedfordshire Council social workers were attending to their needs, while police liaison officers will keep in close touch with them to obtain statements vital to piecing evidence together.

Bedfordshire Police were assisted in the operation by officers from the NCA's UK Human Trafficking Centre as well as staff from Central Bedfordshire Council, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross.