THREE people have been arrested and five women rescued from two houses as part of a human trafficking investigation in Blackburn.

The raid was the third such operation in five months in the town as police look to crackdown on women being trafficked to East Lancashire from Romania to be forced to work as prostitutes.

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In the latest phase of Operation Proteus, police executed warrants at a house in Wensley Road, where they found found three women, aged 20, 24 and 34, thought to be Romanian.

At a property in St James Road, they found two women of Eastern European descent aged 25 and 32.

All five women were taken to a place of safety and were being supported by specially trained officers.

As a result of Wednesday’s operation two men, aged 21 and 28, were arrested at the house in St James’s Road on suspicion of human trafficking.

A 29-year-old woman was arrested at the property in Wensley Road over the same allegation.

All three have been released on bail until October 4.

Detective Sergeant Tony Atkins, of East Lancashire’s specialist human trafficking prevention team, said: “These were successful interventions enabling us to ensure the safety of five vulnerable individuals, and arrest three people who we suspect have preyed on these susceptible people.

“Our activity has enabled us to gather vital intelligence as part of this investigation and to help us to build up a picture of this type of criminal activity across East Lancashire.

“I hope that this shows our commitment to tackling trafficking.

“It is important that we raise the public awareness of trafficking and slavery, which we know is occurring across the county on a daily basis.

“I hope that these warrants enable our communities or potential victims to come forward with the confidence to report their concerns to us.”

Neighbours and nearby businesses said they were shocked by the raid.

One shop worker in Wensley Road said: “I saw the police cars parked up but I didn’t know what they were doing.

“I am shocked to hear these allegations. This is normally a nice street.

“We don’t have any problems with gangs or anything like that.”

A resident said: “I am shocked. We don’t want this in our area. It is completely unacceptable. This is normally a friendly street.

“I saw the police here the other day so I know which house was involved.”

Anyone with information about human trafficking, slavery or forced labour in their area is urged to call police on 101.