Polish human trafficking gang jailed in UK

Marcin Bielecki/PAP

Five members of a Polish gang involved in human trafficking and pimping were sentenced on Friday by a London court in a major case widely reported in media.

London Metropolitan Police wrote in a news release on Friday: "Specialist Crime detectives identified over 300 potential female victims and safeguarded 134 after one victim managed to escape and alert police."

The police said the women were trafficked from Poland to London.

Detective Inspector Esther Richardson, who led the investigation, said, as quoted by the Met: "This organised crime group may never have been identified if it weren’t for our brave and courageous victim, her evidence was crucial to our investigation."

The four men and one woman were pronounced guilty in March, and on Friday were slapped with sentences ranging from a two-year suspended sentence to eight years in jail.

They ran several brothels in London.