UK: Sex slave escapes from brothel, July 24

A TEENAGE sex slave escaped from a brothel and sought help from residents.

The Vietnamese girl, who cannot speak English, appeared at the home of Christine Bonner in Milton Road, Gravesend, at around 8pm on July 18.

She later told a translator she had been sold as a sex slave and had escaped from a house.

Shop worker Mrs Bonner, 65, said: "She was sitting on my wall and then started looking through my window. I rang my daughter who came over with her friend."

Her daughter, 38-year-old mum-of-two Kerri Bonner, said: "We gave her a cup of tea and biscuits.

"She was holding the cup like it was a baby. We just cuddled her and tried to comfort her."

The housewife added: "It's the last thing you expect.

"I will never forget this girl until the day I die."

Miss Bonner said the girl's eyes were "souless".

She added: "You could see she had been to hell and back. When the police came she was cowering and became frightened again.

"As she left she bowed to each of us. I wish I could have done more to help her."

Miss Bonner's friend Samantha Bunn, a mum-of-two who lives in Stanley Crescent, Gravesend, said: "She was a child. She only looked about 16 or 17 years old. She was scared and crying. She said her name was E."

The 33-year-old added: "I feel disgusted. You know it goes on and see it on TV but you don't expect it to happen in Gravesend.

"She had lots of white bags stuffed inside her bag. They looked like nappy sacks."

Mrs Bunn said officers told her they would try to get the teenager to point out the house she escaped from. The women do not know where the house is.

A police spokesman said: "Patrols attended immediately and the woman was taken into custody at Gravesend police station before being put into the hands of the immigration services."

And a Home Office spokesman said it does not comment on individual cases.

He added the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which aims to combat child sex abuse, published a report on the extent of child trafficking on June 11.

The writers of the report believe 330 children were trafficked into the UK between March 2005 and December last year.

Later this year a police-led operation, Pentameter Two, will aim to rescue trafficked women and girls from commercial sexual exploitation.

12:31pm Tuesday 24th July 2007

By Vicki Foster

Israeli police arrest nine citizens suspected of trafficking in organs

The Associated Press
Monday, July 23, 2007

JERUSALEM: Israeli police have broken up an organ transplanting ring that persuaded dozens of Israelis to have their kidneys removed in Ukraine for $30,000 (€21,700) each, a spokesman said Monday.

Nine Israelis suspected of trafficking in organs and humans have been arrested and remain in custody, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The case was opened when an Israeli woman filed a police complaint charging that she was not paid after her kidney was removed in Ukraine, Rosenfeld said. She had answered an ad in the local press, he said.

Police uncovered the ring by sending an undercover officer to pose as a potential donor, he said.

Army Radio quoted police as saying dozens of people may have been duped into donating organs. Ads seeking donors were published in the Russian and Arabic press, the radio said.

"We are talking about several incidents in which we located the people," a senior police commander, Lior Boker, told Army Radio. "I estimate that ... over a long period of time we are talking about a lot more people."

Israeli police have informed the Ukrainian police of the arrests, Rosenfeld said.

Israel allows transplants from relatives or anonymous donors, but the law forbids any sale of organs. Still, local and foreign laws are not sufficient to stop the sale of organs if people travel abroad, said Eitan Mor, executive director of the Israeli Transplantation Society.

"It's a jungle out there," Mor said. "As soon as Israelis go abroad to give organs this opens the door to trafficking in organs."

About 200 Israelis go abroad every year to receive transplants, most of them to receive kidneys, Mor said.

Police may have to release the suspects since Israeli law does not explicitly forbid trafficking in organs, said Meir Broder, a legal adviser to the Health Ministry. Draft legislation before Israel's parliament would make it illegal to transport or deal in organs, Broder said.

Israel has began cracking down on transplants abroad when organ trafficking is suspected, Broder said.

Since last year, Israeli health maintenance organizations have been required to question the source of organs transplanted into their members abroad. This has prevented Israelis from receiving state-funded transplants in China, he said, where human rights groups believe organs have been taken from executed prisoners.