A working group is being set up to examine "internal trafficking" of girls in their teens or younger. In some cases, girls as young as 10 are believed to have been groomed by youths pretending to be boyfriends. They are passed on and end up in prostitution. Campaigners said the authorities had been slow to react to the problem.
In a report seen by the BBC, the Home Office recommends that "the newly formed UK Internal Trafficking Group will seek to define the extent and nature of this phenomenon".
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker confirmed it had commissioned work to examine internal trafficking. He said a film was also being made to be shown in schools to warn children of the dangers.
"There's work going on with prosecuting authorities to make sure they're aware of this issue and understand it and then there's work going on in communities to make sure that people are aware of this as a potential problem," he said.
"We also want to have services that protect and support victims as well."
Threats and beatings
The BBC has learned that internal trafficking follows a typical pattern in which a girl aged about 12 is approached and won over by a good-looking, well-dressed teenage boy.
He gives her jewellery, mobile phones and later drink or drugs, and pretends to be her boyfriend. Once under his spell, the girl is turned against her parents and persuaded to have sex with her boyfriend's older "uncles" or "friends" to pay him back for the money he has spent on her.
Gradually, she finds herself spending all her time with the older men who force her, often with violence, to work as a prostitute. Meanwhile, her original "boyfriend" is out targeting another young girl.
One victim Emma, which is not her real name, was targeted when she was 13.
"In schools we're always warned about a man in a white van, but we're never warned that someone nearly your own age could be targeting you to groom you for prostitution," she said.
Emma was too terrified to ask for help.
"They've threatened to rape my mum and make me watch," she said.
"Firebomb my house. Shoot me, shoot my family. They've threatened to do all sorts of things."
Parents 'bewildered'
Hilary Willmer, from the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping (Crop), said she had seen dozens of cases of internal trafficking. Ms Willmer said: "It can happen to any child from any family. The men, the gangs have all the experience. The children, the families and the parents are bewildered, don't know what's happening."
She welcomed the Home Office action, but said part of the problem was the law.
Once older than 13, a girl may be asked to give evidence in court against an attacker.
"In practice, unless the primary victim is prepared to give evidence then it's very difficult to make charges stick," Ms Willmer said.
"The men know this, so they often wait until the girls are 13 before actually having sex with them."
North Yorkshire Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said many forces were aware of this problem and officers were now trying to piece together the national picture.
He said: "It is a very difficult crime to detect. We are talking about people who don't want to talk about things in the open.
"When they actually find out the extent to which the exploitation has been carried out on them, how much they have been abused, how much they've been forced to have sexual partners, it's a very difficult thing to come to terms with."
The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) in Sheffield recently appointed a dedicated detective sergeant to work on internal trafficking cases. Nick Kinsella, head of the UKHTC, said the scale of the problem was unclear.
"The whole issue with trafficking is that it's a secret, covert crime and there's a great deal of control placed over the victims and so that's always difficult to break down irrespective of the age," he said.
Among the victims was 13-year-old Emma.
When she first fell in with a gang it seemed great. Emma had a new boyfriend who gave her jewellery and mobile phones, took her for drives and gave her alcohol and cannabis.
It seemed the height of teenage rebellion, but she did not realize the "gifts" were a way of controlling her. After a few weeks, Emma was introduced by her boyfriend to some older men.
It was quickly made clear she was expected to have sex with them.
"I don't think you realize until it's too late what's really happening. When you're only 13 and a child you don't see danger like you do when you're older," Emma said.
'So scared'
Soon Emma was spending all her time with the older "cousins", "friends" and "uncles".
She said: "There was one older man in particular who started to groom me and I used to have to do what he said or he'd hit me and stuff.
“I’d have to go and meet him or they'd threaten to bomb the house or kidnap me.
"I was so scared it got to where I felt it was better that I go and meet him even if I knew he was going to rape me."
Emma's involvement with the gang lasted a year and during that time she estimates she had sex with dozens of men. She also says she was not the youngest girl involved.
"I saw several other girls when I was in the flats used by the men. The youngest I saw was probably ten."
'Flattered'
Emma feels she and the others were picked on because they were easy targets.
She said: "They always choose vulnerable girls.
"Obviously if you're streetwise you'll pick up on it, but if you're a bit sheltered and they buy you little things or take you to McDonalds when you're 12 or 13, then you're flattered by it because you're getting attention off someone.
"You feel as though they're your friend. They have nice clothes, nice cars, they're well groomed, so it looks as though they've got money."
Once under the men's control, she found it hard to break away.
"You've got no self-esteem or self-respect because they take that away from you.
"For someone to rape you [again and again] doesn't hurt as much as when they raped you the first time because you haven't got anything anyway. You feel that sex means nothing," she said.
'Starting from scratch'
Emma's experiences have affected her badly. It has taken her many hours of counseling to realize what happened was not her fault.
"I had depression for a long time. I was on medication and didn't want to go out of the house, didn't trust anybody. I always felt physically ill. I had no confidence or anything.
"It's like starting from scratch again."
No-one has ever been prosecuted in connection with what happened to Emma.
She is trying to get on with her life, but feels cheated of her youth.
"I was a straight-A student at school. All that changed. It took away my chance of getting A-levels and going to university.
"It took away my teenage years. I never had a teenage life."
We have changed Emma's name to protect her identity.
This article was taken from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7092401.stm
Frontline Punjab Youth Comments:
The rest of Britain has just woken up; the Sikhs have been dealing with this problem from 20 years ago. The SP was set up to counter attack the crimes committed by extremist Muslim gangs. Sikhs were the first targets, of this type of crime. Some Muslim men see the women of kaffirs as a piece of meat; they don’t care what they do to them. Even if they treat them good; it is just done to convert them. All the SP used to hear from the police in the 80's and 90's was,
"There is no law against this sort of crime, if it exists. But you are taking things into your own hands and you can't do that Mr Singh. We know it’s hard for you to believe that your daughter is seeing an older Muslim guy, but you have to come to terms with it Mr Singh. Mr Singh I know its all about honour in the Sikh community, but why are you saying your daughter is a victim of grooming"
But now because it’s happening to white girls they wake up. We salute all the original SP members who tackled this issue in the past. I bet the police feel gutted now, their thinking "we should have listened to Mr Singh" (Laughter)
