CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,34
could become the biggest earner within twenty years.
MODERN SLAVERY
Modern slavery takes many forms. The common feature is that poor people – usually children or young adults – are kidnapped or tricked into travelling to a wealthier part of the world, where they are held captive and forced to work against their will.
In poor countries, it has long been common for youngsters to be captured and taken far away to work in sweatshops, to fight as soldiers, or to work in the sex industry. Some poor parents willingly sign their children over to people who promise to offer them a better life in another part of the world, while others hand their children over to crime syndicates and are too terrified ever to contact the police. Most disturbingly, many child slaves are street children or orphans who are sold into slavery by the police officers and care workers who are paid to protect them.
In rich countries, such as the UK and the United States, the vast majority of slaves are teenage girls who are forced to work within the sex industry. Girls as young as twelve are smuggled into the UK, beaten, terrorised and often injected with heroin or other narcotic drugs to make them docile, before being forced to have sex for money.
The problem is vast. It is estimated that there are more than 25,000 forced sex workers in the UK (500,000 within the European Union) and that over 90% of these are girls under the age of twenty. A few of these girls have been smuggled from Asia and Africa, but the majority are from Russia and the poorer parts of Eastern Europe.
THE CHERUB MISSION
In early September a high-speed passenger ferry collided with a small motor launch during a storm in the English Channel. Despite the launch being severely damaged, the captain refused all offers of help and tried to escape.
Appalling weather meant that search and rescue resources were stretched to the limit. The authorities were unable to pursue the boat, but several hours later a customs officer on a routine patrol spotted the launch tied to a small jetty, two kilometres from the seaside town of Worthing.
At first, the boat appeared to have been abandoned, but further inspection revealed that a twelve-year-old girl was trapped at the end of the jetty. Two customs officers braved high seas washing over the jetty to bring her back to shore.
The officers suspected that the girl was being trafficked to work in the sex industry and a search team sent on to the boat when the storm subsided revealed clothes and personal items belonging to as many as ten teen and pre-teen girls.
Since September, the young girl rescued from the pier has been staying at a children’s home near Brighton. She has been questioned by police and social workers, but has adamantly refused to admit anything, except that her first name is Anna.
Police have been unable to trace any sign of the people who were running the smuggling operation, or of the other girls who escaped from the damaged boat. Although all human trafficking investigations are given a high priority, the police are particularly concerned in this instance because it is thought that up to half of the girls on the boat were aged thirteen or under and are likely to have been trafficked to paedophile gangs.
All attempts to question Anna have so far proved fruitless. However, police psychologists are hopeful that she may open up to a trusted friend.
Although Anna’s English is improving, it is thought that a girl aged 11–13 with a decent command of Russian will have the best chance of winning Anna’s confidence and unearthing information about both Anna herself and the criminal gang that smuggled her into Britain.
Arrangements will be made for a CHERUB agent to move into the Brighton children’s home and share a room with Anna. The aim is to make friends and get as much information as possible about her background and the people who smuggled her to the UK.
NOTE: THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVED THIS MISSION BRIEFING, ON CONDITION THAT ALL AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:
This mission has been classified LOW RISK. The agent is reminded of her right to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time.
This mission is likely to last one month or less. Its primary goal is to gather information from the victim of a crime. The danger to the agent should be minimal.
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‘My god,’ Lauren said, after she’d read the briefing. ‘Those poor girls.