13/11/2014

13 Arrested Over Forced Marriage And Abortion Plot

Police in Manchester have arrested thirteen people in connection with a pregnant woman allegedly sold into a forced marriage.

Authorities were contacted after a 20-year-old Slovakian revealed to an interpreter that she had been "sold against her will".

It is understood the woman was sold for up to £15,000 by a gang in Greater Manchester to a man facing deportation.

The forced marriage was discovered when the woman was taken to a hospital and an interpreter who arrived with her asked for an abortion.

An independent interpreter was brought in by the hospital and when alone, the Slovakian woman revealed she had been sold into a marriage and was "appalled" that she was at the hospital for an abortion.

An investigation has led to the arrest of ten men and three women, aged between 24 and 57, on suspicion of various offences including trafficking people for exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate breach of immigration law.

(MH/CD)

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