The Metropolitan Police uncovered seven brothels in west London during the hunt for a missing 16-year-old Lithuanian girl.

Their investigation exposed a violent and organised gang which duped vulnerable and naive young women from Lithuania into coming to the UK under the illusion they would be making better lives for themselves. Once in this country, and having run up debts with the gang, they had their documents taken away and they were forced to work in the brothels to repay their captors.

The police operation was run in two stages: a rescue operation to find and re-unite the missing girl with her parents, and a covert investigation to uncover the scale of the pimping and brothel operation and collect the evidence to bring those responsible to account.

Detective Supt David Eyles, from the Met's Clubs and Vice Unit, said:

"This gang of men preyed on the vulnerability of these Lithuanian women, luring them into this country then holding them against their will and forcing them to work as prostitutes.

"These young women have been traumatised by their exploitation, and in the one case had their first sexual experience under these horrendous circumstances. The seriousness of these offences cannot be understated. This was a criminal gang involved in trafficking and the control of prostitutes which was earning money from the suffering of the victims they held captive."

The operation was funded by Reflex, the government multi-agency taskforce dealing with organised immigration crime, of which trafficking for sexual exploitation is a component