CAR washes in Glasgow exploiting Eastern European workers were raided by cops as part of a large-scale operation to tackle homegrown human trafficking in the city.

Five car washes and three houses were targeted simultaneously across the city and further afield in Lanarkshire during the co-ordinated strike which took place yesterday morning.

The multi-agency Operation Tripletail kicked off with a briefing at Cathcart Police Office in the city’s South Side.

A team of around 100 people made up of Police Scotland officers and representatives from HM Revenue & Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, Trading Standards, Health and Safety Executive, UK Border Agency, Scottish Water and UK Immigration Enforcement were involved in the operation.

Leading that team was Detective Inspector Fergus Hutcheson, of Glasgow CID Proactive.

He said: “There is information to suggest that there are people from the migrant community being exploited in the UK.

“It is not people who work in the sex industry or people who are working in sweatshops for designer clothes in some far off country, it is happening in our country and within our community.

“There is also information to suggest that there is people working in the service industry including car washes that may be potential victims of human trafficking and exploitation.

“This operation is all about ensuring the welfare of potential victims of human trafficking and to establish everything is in order in their place of work.”

The United Nations defines trafficking as ‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.’

Human trafficking comes in many forms including forced labour or services or slavery or practices similar to slavery.

This operation came about after months of detective work which established that large groups of men were being picked up every morning in Govanhill by vans and taken to car washes to work.

DI Hutcheson explained the issue was highlighted to the police through the Community Safety Glasgow CCTV cameras who spotted the men gathering at the same spot in Govanhill everyday.

Officers investigated further and discovered that the groups were dropped off at car washes in the city and Lanarkshire.

DI Hutcheson explained the workers are potentially working in car washes under poor conditions and poor pay.

HE added: “There is a suggestion they are earning as little as £3 a hour.

“There is also a suggestion of some element of enforced labour as well.”

Similar operations in the UK have revealed that the enforced labour comes about because the workers are being held random to their passport or even their tenancy.

The raids were therefore organised with a focus on the victim and disrupting the activities of those responsible for the operation, who are Glaswegian.

Following the raids the potential victims of human trafficking were taken to a safe house in North Glasgow to be given the opportunity to speak up. A total of 14 potential victims from the Roma and Slovakian communities were taken to the safe house yesterday.

DI Hutcheson said: “I’ll be honest with you human trafficking can be a hard nut to crack because the victims don’t see themselves as being exploited But we will use every tool we can so that if we do get evidence of human trafficking, we can try and shut down these criminal enterprises as best as we can.”

Police Scotland have started the process of gathering evidence following the raids.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman added: “Inquiries are ongoing.”