Human trafficking is on the rise in Northern Ireland and must be combated, an Assembly committee said today.
A Public Accounts Committee report into organised crime warned of a wide range of illegal activity which it said ruined lives and robbed the public purse of millions of pounds.
Assembly members on the scrutiny committee gathered expert evidence on criminal operations which it concluded were undermining the wider aim of the peace process to create a prosperous and safe society.
The report, entitled Combating Organised Crime, estimated that fuel laundering and cross-border smuggling had cost the public purse £250 million over recent years, while counterfeiting has cost £200million and extortion £10 million, while in the last year alone social security fraud cost £18 million.
Committee chairman Paul Maskey said: "Organised crime is a form of fraud that goes to the very heart of public finances. It threatens the Executive's overarching aim of achieving a peaceful, fair and prosperous society, with respect for the rule of law and where everyone can enjoy a better quality of life now and in years to come."
"Vulnerable women and children falsely enticed here by the prospects of employment, education and a better life, can find themselves the victims of domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. This cannot be allowed to continue."
The report recounted how senior police witnesses had given evidence to the committee that warned of the growth of human trafficking, though they said that exact evidence on the scale of the illegal trade can be difficult to obtain.
The head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland unit tackling organised crime, Chief Supt Roy McComb, branded the illegal trade as "slavery by another name".
"Human trafficking happens, and it is happening in towns and villages around Northern Ireland," he said.
"It is happening under the watch of people who should be wise enough to see it, but it is not being reported. We are discovering and identifying human trafficking, but it is probable that more of it is happening, so I support the assessment that it is on the rise."
He said the crime was difficult to measure, but Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris told the Committee that police had identified cases and feared more would emerge.
Mr Harris told the Committee that three years ago the UK-wide Operation Pentameter was unable to find any sign of human trafficking into Northern Ireland. A year later, a follow-up police sweep was launched and the first human trafficking case was detected, which sparked the cross-border Operation Haver with gardai and police in Wales.
The committee highlighted the cost of illegal dumping where criminals seek to avoid landfill tax.
The Committee also said that every fake DVD a person buys, thinking they are getting a bargain, helps to continue human exploitation somewhere in the world.
The investigation of organised crime also found that the nature of extortion has changed, with less evidence of the crime in the building industry, but evidence of criminals extorting money from fellow criminals.
PA