Britain recently reported that its inner city children are being forced to sell drugs in the countryside which has tripled the number of its "modern slavery" victims. This is the first time UK nationals have made up the majority of cases identifying children and adults who are "at the mercy" of slave drivers and traffickers. The reason? It comes partly down to fears of children being exploited in a drug distribution model known as "county lines," where city gangs branch out into county and coastal towns to sell heroin and crack. In 2017 the number was up 35% from 2016 and almost tripled since 2013.

There were hundreds of reports of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and three cases of organ harvesting. 116 nationalities reported, and the largerst group was UK citiizens.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is a framework for identifying victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, but not all individuals who are referred are ultimately assessed to be modern slavery victims. NRM's director, Will Kerr, stated:

"It is our assessment that the increase we are seeing here is driven by an increased awareness and greater reporting of modern slavery and that is to be welcomed." (Really???? Maybe it's because this is becoming the norm, and governments turn their backs on it because of the elites and law enforcements agencies. We are only hearing about the tip of the iceberg)! Kerr further states, "However, it also adds further evidence to our view that the figures almost certainly represent an underestimate of the true scale of slavery and trafficking in the UK." (Thank you). Kerr warned authorities that they are dealing with an "evolving threat" as criminals go into "online spaces" to enable the crime. He said, "We are also seeing increasing crossovers between slavery and organized immigration crime outside the UK. Often the same criminal networks are involved in transportation, and migrants themselves are vulnerable to labor and sexual exploitation during their journeys and after. Particularly concerning to us is the rise in young people being exploited for sexual purposes or drug trafficking. The number of drugs using 'county lines' drugs distribution has risen amid increasing turf wars and a crackdown by inner city police who can identify gang members."

Devon and Cornwall Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the national policing lead for modern slavery, stated:

"It means police are identifying more victims of modern slavery than ever before, ensuring they get the support they need and exploitation is stopped." He goes on to say, "Stealing years from someone's life, abusing them to believing they are subhuman, denying them employment opportunities, not enabling them to have healthcare, demeaning and destroying ther education...it's pretty high for me." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/26/drugs-trade-drags-children-modern-slavery/

I researched back a few years to 2012, and of course no big surprise, nothing has changed. "Human Trafficking to UK Rising." This time it's blamed on trafficking gangs in China, Vietnam, Nigeria and eastern Europe. (Well, a large percentage of these "gangs" have since migrated to the UK) Anyway, the UK government said in 2012 that better coordination between its departments and with authorities abroad was "key." Also in 2012, there were an estimated 92 organized crime groups in the UK with known involvement in human trafficking.

Dr. Aiden McQuade, then director of Anti-Slavery International, stated, "We must face up to the fact" that the problem was worsening "because of fundamental policy failures." He said the government viewed the problem "through the lens of immigration," and had allowed rights for migrant workers to slip from "best practice." (smart man, but nobody listened). http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19984615

There has also been a claim from a mother in Seattle that "child sex trafficking is as easy as ordering a pizza" according to a 2017 article. A mother said said it when she found out about her daughter being sold as a sex slave for 108 days.
http://mynorthwest.com/5349/child-sex-trafficking-as-easy-in-seattle-as-ordering-a-pizza/

Sex trafficiking of children is an international epidemic, the fastest growing business of organized crime, and the third largest criminal enterprise in the world. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/human-sex-trafficking

We are only taking baby steps, if that, to combat this crime. Drastic measures are needed to take it down.