Couple Arrested in UK for 30 Year Enslavement by Kera Mickus

On Thursday, British Police arrested a couple for human trafficking and enslavement of three women - a 30 year old from Briton, a 57 year old from Ireland, and a 69 year old from Malaysia. One of the women -- a 30-year-old Briton -- "appears to have been in servitude for her entire life," Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland said.

The names of the accused were not released, and police said only that they are not British nationals. They were later released on bail.

Hyland said it was an unprecedented case for the Met's Human Trafficking Unit. "We've seen some cases where people have been held for up to 10 years, but we've never seen anything of this magnitude before," he said.

Police said they'd been alerted in October to the situation by Freedom Charity, which got a phone call from a woman saying "she had been held against her will in a house in London for more than 30 years." Freedom Charity spokeswoman Aneeta Prem said the organization had taken "immediate action" to plan a rescue after learning of the women's situation.

Its crazy to think that slavery still exists today, and for that long. It seems a little unusual that no one knew, since they were in servitude for 30 years at least, and that it had taken place in a urban part of London. I found it a little unbelievable that the couple got away with it for that long, and that the three women never said anything. Its good to know that they got their freedom back, though.

Original by Susannah Cullinane

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/21/world/europe/uk-captivity-arrests/index.html?hpt=ieu_c2