TWO suspected brothels in Blackburn were visited as part of a police crackdown into human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Four Romanian women in their early to mid-20s were found at the properties in Sandon Street and Higher Witton Road and told police they were working as prostitutes of their own volition.

The women, who were all spoken to separately and via an interpretor, were educated by police about human trafficking and modern day slavery and given safety advice, but no arrests were made.

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Police say they will continue to monitor the addresses and look at the intelligence gathered and hope it will lead to criminal convictions in the future.

Two punters, one semi-dressed, were found at the house in Sandon Street and were warned and educated about the links between prostitution, human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Their details will be kept by police for intelligence purposes.

Sgt Melissa King, of the Hate Crime and Cohesion unit, said: “The sex trade in East Lancashire is related to organised crime. Rather than looking at people who work in the sex trade as offenders we’re looking at whether they are vulnerable and being exploited. We’re moving our focus onto the people who are exploiting them.

“Over the last 12 months it has come to our attention that there have been a number of Eastern European females in East Lancashire working as prostitutes in brothels. Acting on intelligence received from the public, we visited addresses in Blackburn and found four women working there as prostitutes. They have been educated and given safety advice. We’ll now look to build on the intelligence gathered.”

Three of them have been served with notices to leave the UK within 30 days by immigration officers for breaching their treaty rights by either failing to look for or find employment within three months, register for benefits or enrol on an educational course.

One of the girls said she came to England in June to work as a beautician, but had started working in the club scene in Manchester, which eventually led to erotic dancing and then prostitution. Two other girls said they were doing it to send money back to their families in Romania.

One of the punters, who said he was from Burnley, revealed that he had discovered the brothel on a website.

As part of the police operation educational visits were paid to businesses in Blackburn and Burnley.

Anyone with information about prostitution, human trafficking or slavery is asked to call police via 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.