People trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world. In a series looking at the problem, Lindsay Jennings speaks to the North Yorkshire chief constable combating the issue, while Gareth Dant describes how he became an unwitting victim.

IT is Saturday night in the local Chinese takeaway. Bob and Sue Smith can't decide between the chicken chow mein, which they have every Saturday, or to go for something new. They opt for the chow mein. The takeaway is filling up. The orders flying fast. But little does anyone know what is going on behind the scenes.

At the back is a young Chinese woman, the wife of the owner who was sold to him for £10,000. She works as his slave in sweatshop conditions and is regularly beaten. It is one of these beatings which will eventually lead to her death.

"We found she was suffering from trench foot and she had been kept in a box six feet by six feet," recalls Grahame Maxwell, Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police and programme director for the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) in Sheffield.

"I found that very shocking. I wondered how many times members of the public had been in for a takeaway, even police officers, without realising what was taking place. And it didn't happen in the middle of a bustling city. It was on the outskirts of Rotherham. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere."

The trade in human flesh is one of the UK's fastest growing industries and a key priority for the so-called British FBI, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

By its very nature, organised immigration crime is covert, but in 2003 Home Office figures estimated that 4,000 women trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation were working at any one time. Police believe it could be closer to 8,000 today and it does not take into account those such as the young Chinese woman who have been brought to Britain to work as slaves.

Mr Maxwell, the Association of Chief Police Officers' (Acpo) lead on human trafficking, has been involved in the fight against the trade since 2001. Many of the women caught up in sexual slavery have been lured to Britain on the pretext of lucrative jobs, only to be sold at airport cafes, their passports taken, before being made to have sex with 30-40 men a day.

"And it doesn't just happen in known brothels, it's also in suburbia, high rise flats and semis," says Mr Maxwell. "Some of the stories are horrendous. It's about deception, broken promises, brutality. The women can be forced to endure bizarre sexual acts, to have sex without condoms. They will be sold for less than the price paid for normal prostitution in that area - something like £25 for half an hour, £40 for an hour - if you start to do the sums on 30 clients a day, you can see how profitable it is."

It is a crime the FBI estimates generates £5bn annually. In 2003, when Albanian Luan Plakici was jailed for ten years for trafficking up to 60 women, he had more than £200,000 in the bank, several palatial homes and drove a Ferrari.

Growing concern over the issue led to a co-ordinated four-month police effort last year under the first phase of Operation Pentameter, of which Mr Maxwell was operation director. As a result of raids on 500 brothels across the country, 88 women were rescued, including 12 children aged between 14 and 17. The second phase was launched earlier this month.

It was Pentameter which led to the setting up of the UKHTC in October last year.

"It's very pro-active," says Mr Maxwell. "We have tactical advisors so a police officer can ring up and get advice on how to deal with a trafficked person. We also use the centre as a means to set up training for officers."

The centre is funded by money from forces across the country but it has applied to the Home Office for £1m to £1.5m of funding.

The priority given to combating people trafficking varies from force to force. In London where it has been more prolific, the Met has an 11-strong team funded by £785,000 from the Home Office. In North Yorkshire, says Mr Maxwell, there haven't been any cases. In County Durham, there was the case featured in the article below and, in 2005, in the Newcastle area, three Chinese girls were believed to have been trafficked into Newcastle Airport before they were taken into care. They later vanished.

DCI Paul Harker, a crime manager with Durham Police who has undertaken the training course at UKHTC, says it would be "naïve" to think a force area without an airport would be immune to trafficking.

Laws criminalising trafficking have been in force since 2003. But while it may be possible for the women to identify their trafficker, the punters - those fuelling the insatiable demand - walk free.

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said no work was being undertaken to criminalise men who use prostitutes. Nor could she give a guarantee that the victims wouldn't be deported.

Campaigners want the UK government to ratify an EU directive providing the victims of trafficking with more rights, including an automatic minimum 30-day reflection period as opposed to being immediately deported, which Acpo and the UKHTC is supporting.

Meanwhile, Grahame Maxwell recognises the pressing need to raise awareness of trafficking.

"We are determined to make the UK a hostile environment for traffickers," he says. "The Home Office has many priorities but it has been verbally very supportive. I'm sure there will be the financial support for the UKHTC in the future."

In tomorrow's Northern Echo, the North-East charity helping trafficking victims.