Albanian gangs operating at the “higher end of sophistication” are being linked to a surge in the number of trafficking victims brought to the UK. Latest statistics from the National Crime Agency (NCA) show a 35% increase in the number of people trafficked into the UK – the majority from Albania. Sky News met 15 victims at a shelter in Vlore, a city in the south of Albania which remains a hot spot for the country’s trafficking network. Beaten while pregnant, locked up and raped by multiple men – their stories are horrific. These women and girls are victims of Albanian trafficking gangs and are now receiving help from the charity Vatra. Besjana was in her early twenties when she fell pregnant. She told Sky News how it brought shame on her family and described how she was beaten by her own mother and brother. “They punched me in the womb so I would lose the baby… it was really bad because I could lose the baby at any moment,” she said. After fleeing her home she ended up in the hands of one of Albania’s trafficking gangs in Italy and was forced to work unpaid as a prostitute in the UK for 18 months. She told Sky News: “It happened on the same day, as soon as we arrived at the house within an hour he [her trafficker] started to talk roughly…’you are going to do this’… they started locking me inside the house… and they threatened me and… [Read full story]
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