Zimbabwean couple arrested over human trafficking

Zimbabwean couple arrested over human trafficking

• Zim man accused of rape claims racism

• Crime Watch fugitive arrested

• 3 Zim asylum seekers held in dawn raid

• Casanova secretly married 5 women

• Zim pair jailed for mail bag thefts in UK

• Makwavarara's son infected 6 girls with HIV

• Arson accused should have been deported 2 years ago

• Grief of Zim family over Canada creek death

• Jail for Zim death crash nurse

• Nurse struck off over sex with patient

• 'Doctors did something...somebody died' - coroner

• Jail for Zimbabwean hostage man

• UK jail for HIV positive Zim rapist

• Zim man to serve 14 years for knife killing

• Zim internet fraudster cons man for £10 000

• 'Dead' Zim nurse escapes UK jail

• Zimbabwe woman wins US abuse suit

• UK jail for mum who allowed hubby to kill baby

• Pair face UK jail for child cruelty

• British MP wants fraudster deported

• Trooper who throttled vice lover jailed for life

By Staff Reporter

POLICE in the English northern city of Middlesbrough have arrested two Zimbabwean company directors over alleged human trafficking offences.

A team of officers from the Cleveland force has been involved in a worldwide probe into organised trafficking of refugees since July 2005, the Nothern Echo newspaper reported.

Stella Davidzo Mavurayi and Thomson Dondo -- directors of Sigma Care Personnel Solutions -- were arrested late Tuesday.

Mavurayi recently split from her husband over claims she was seeing her former boss at a London-based care agency, sources said.

Police said the investigation - codenamed Rainhill - had uncovered evidence that hundreds of illegal immigrants have been smuggled into the UK.

Many of the suspects are believed to have come from Zimbabwe. They range from teenagers to people in their 60s.

Detectives believe they were part of a sophisticated human trafficking operation in which immigrants were smuggled halfway around the world before being issued with fake documents and put to work in care homes.

After leaving Africa, they were met in London and given fake immigration papers. Within days of arriving in the UK, police said they were given menial care-home jobs that paid a pittance.

According to police, the majority have ended up in the North.

Chief Inspector Derek Carter, who led the inquiry with Cleveland's Organised Crime Unit, said: "This should send out a clear message that our unit has a wide-ranging remit.

"We are not just interested in drug dealers but all organised criminal groups."

His deputy, Detective Inspector Dave Lamplough, said the two people arrested yesterday, a man and a woman, are directors of a Middlesbrough company, which provides a range of care home workers.

Last night, they were being questioned by Cleveland Police in connection with their alleged involvement.

Det Insp Lamplough said: "Our investigations, which have stretched from Cleveland to London and beyond, have uncovered a situation that raises serious concerns."

As a result, the inquiry team has kept close links with the Immigration Service, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Criminal Records Bureau, UK Work Permits, the Home Office and primary care trusts.

He added: "We have examined cases that involve people who have travelled from Zimbabwe to London, where they are met by representatives of companies, given accommodation, provided with a fabricated training package and then put to work as carers. Many, it appears, have been badly exploited.

"While we have received no complaints about the standard of care provided by these workers, we realise there may be other aspects that our investigations have not revealed, and we would ask the public to remain vigilant."

JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com