A 24-year-old Chinese immigrant has been found guilty of trafficking two Brazilian women into Britain to make them work in a brothel

Damon Embling:

Hui Feng Zhu, of Alderglen Road, Manchester, tricked the pair with the promise of restaurant work in the UK.

Once they were in the country he took away their passports and sold them to a brothel in Portsmouth.

He was found guilty of four charges of human trafficking and jailed for eight years, at the end of his trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Zhu was given eight years for each offence, with the terms to run concurrently.

Judge Richard Price said: "Disgusting as they are, these offences are quite literally modern slavery."

The women - aged 19 and 21 at the time - had met Zhu in Brazil.


He told them he had a restaurant in the UK and offered them work, saying they would earn six times more than they could in Brazil.

In May 2005, both women flew from Sao Paulo to London.

Zhu met them and took away their passports and return air tickets. He told them there was no restaurant work available.

The women were then bought underwear and taken to the brothel in Malthouse Road, Portsmouth, where they were pressured to work as prostitutes.

In fear of what might happen if she said no, the 21-year-old woman agreed to work in the brothel.

Her friend refused and was sent to live with Zhu.

About two weeks later, Hampshire police officers raided the brothel and found the woman.

Det Ch Insp Richard John, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: "The victim was dressed in underwear and actually looked quite frightened and terrified by what was clearly an horrific ordeal for her. She was servicing about ten clients a day."


The two are typical of those who fall foul of the criminal gangs who traffic women into the country to sell them on for sex, in what is widely regarded as the modern day slave trade.

In one year, according to latest figures, about 4,000 people had been sold into prostitution in the UK, as part of a market worth £275m.

Peter Stanley, of Stop the Traffik pressure group, said: "On a global basis, it is the fastest growing crime in the world.

"The majority of the trafficking into the UK is for sexual exploitation, forced prostitution."

Last year, as part of a national crackdown on sex traffickers, more than a dozen suspected brothels were raided across the South.

Across the UK, more than 80 suspected victims were rescued.

Nick Kinsella, head of the UK Human Trafficking Centre, said: "Operation Pentameter involved every police force in the South, working in a way we have never worked before.

"The South is a key region for us and the ports in the South are like every other port in the country, particularly important to us. These are the gateways that are frequently used to bring in victims of trafficking."

Judge Price will recommend to the home secretary that Zhu, who is a Chinese national, is deported when he is released from prison.

Let's hope that this creep will be deported when he is released instead of being allowed to endlessly appeal his deportation at the taxpayers' expense.