Human trafficking, organised crime, drug crime and paramilitary activity are interlinked issues that demand an inter-governmental response, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said.
Speaking after the inaugural meeting of the justice ministers from both parts of Ireland and the Scottish government, he said: “We can’t deal with these issues as silos, we have to deal with them together. We have to work with our neighbouring jurisdictions.”
Stormont justice minister David Ford agreed, stressing the importance of co-operation between police forces on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Referring to an ongoing operation against human trafficking and prostitution in Belfast he said: “It is vitally important that we get the maximum possible co-operation to deal with what is an absolutely foul crime."
Scottish cabinet secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “Serious organised crime does not respect national or jurisdictional boundaries. I was therefore delighted to meet with my counterparts to discuss the issues that concern us all - and to agree how best we tackle those issues.”
Two men and two women have already appeared before Belfast magistrates earlier this month accused in connection with a UK-wide police operation against human trafficking that resulted in the closure of 13 brothels, seven of them in Belfast.
It emerged in court that the Scottish-based gang had allegedly spent £50,000 advertising brothels in the city. The court also heard allegations that they had spent a further £10,000 on other costs associated with bringing women and transsexuals to Belfast to work in brothels.
Malcolm McNeill (46) of Forest Avenue, Hamilton, Lanarkshire; Ashleigh Beuken (21) of Argyle Street, Glasgow; and Stephen Craig (33) of Albert Road, Clydebank face charges of trafficking, controlling prostitution for gain, brothel keeping and converting criminal property. Another woman, Yvonne Dawson (22) of Tambowie Cottages, Milngavie, is charged with controlling prostitution. They were all remanded in custody.
All four were arrested earlier this month following PSNI raids on seven brothels in Belfast as part of a police operation to rescue workers in the sex industry.
In July, police also raided an apartment in King’s Square in the east of the city, freeing two sex workers.
Det Chief Supt Roy McComb, who heads the PSNI’s organised crime branch, said those freed under the operation were being treated “with a tremendous amount of care” by support agencies. He said he could not give details of the numbers of human trafficking victims uncovered as part of the police operation and the searches of brothels in Belfast.
Last week, Stormont justice minister David Ford said Northern Ireland was being used a staging post for human traffickers. “There is no doubt that Northern is a staging post between Scotland and the Republic and sometimes on a wider-spread basis,” he said.
Assembly members from other parties have called for increased co-operation between police forces throughout Ireland and Scotland to combat the practice.