Protests as modern slavery unit is closed

Efforts to tackle modern slavery will be undermined and victims left to suffer if government plans to remove funding for a dedicated team are not reversed, experts have warned.

- Catherine Neilan Whitehall Editor

From April, support is being pulled for the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit (MSOICU), which coordinates police forces across the country and facilitates intelligence and analysis sharing.

Experts claim the decision is political and warned it would hinder investigations into complex cases such as the alleged networks of enablers around Jeffrey Epstein and Mohamed Al Fayed.

One source said there was “less of an appetite for funding for modern slavery and human trafficking” because of the government's shift in focus towards immigration.