A Crouch End trafficker who brought Thai women and ‘ladyboys’ into the UK and forced them into sexual slavery has been jailed for six years.
Rashid Ahmed, 68, of Hermiston Avenue, Crouch End, took regular trips to Thailand to find sex workers and rented properties to be used as brothels.
He was part of a gang with Thai madam Nattarn Budcha, 35, of Porter Street, Marylebone, and fixer Hammal Amiri, 27, of no fixed abode, who coaxed the women to the UK with the promise of jobs.
Some victims were told they would be working as masseuses and cleaners, Southwark Crown Court heard.
They would then be locked into an enormous debt bond to the traffickers.
Budcha ran escort agency Asian Exclusive that advertised the ‘high class’ prostitutes online and collected their earnings while Amiri helped run the website.
All three were found guilty of controlling prostitution after trial last year, while Ahmed was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to traffic persons within the UK between January 1 2011 and April 4 2013.
Amiri and Budcha were convicted of one charge of conspiracy to traffic persons within the UK.
The girls were forced to see up to 15 clients a day and perform humiliating and painful sex acts, often to the point of injury.
When one victim told Ahmed she was in too much pain to work, he merely bought her a bottle of numbing spray.
Jailing Ahmed for six years, and Amiri and Budcha for five years, Judge David Tomlinson said: “You were part of a wide ranging agreement to traffic vulnerable women from Thailand into the UK for prostitution, you further agreed to control their prostitution for your personal gain.
“They (the girls) were required to do the most degrading work at any time in the 24 hour day.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here