Police in Manchester rescue woman "trafficked to the UK from Latvia"

A woman thought to be from Latvia who is believed to have been trafficked into the UK under false pretences has been "rescued" by police.

Officers have also arrested two 31-year-old men and one 46-year-old woman on suspicion of false imprisonment and human trafficking after raiding an address in Longsight, Manchester.

Greater Manchester Police were alerted by Interpol after a Latvian woman had called them claiming her 36-year-old daughter was being held against her will at an address in Manchester.

She reported her daughter had travelled to the UK on the promise of getting a job, but later told her mother she had been held against her will for almost 14 months.

It is thought the victim has been imprisoned in the UK since mid-2013, but had been moved to a series of addresses in Longsight over the last eight months.

With no knowledge of the exact address, the victim described details of the flat where she was being held to her mother, which were then relayed via Interpol to GMP officers.

Acting on this information, officers managed to locate the address where the victim was being held and found her on 19 August 2014.

Detective Inspector Dave Turner said: “Officers were able to act quickly on information from Interpol and rescue this woman.

“From what we have established so far, we believe this woman was lured into the country and kept against her will in a number of addresses, unsure whether she would ever be able to see her family again.

“We have to commend her bravery, defying her captors to pass the vital information about her whereabouts to her mother and thus assist her own rescue.

“We should also commend the fast actions and fine police work of the officers on the ground, who were able to make three arrests.”