CITY leaders, police, health and immigration bosses are to create a people trafficking task force to beat the problem of organised crime bringing overseas nationals into the UK through Merseyside ports.
More than 30 different agencies, including the council, the UK Border and Immigration Agency and the Citysafe partnership are to hold a conference is in Liverpool in the autumn in order to formulate a clear policy of how to deal with the problem.
It comes as a Home Office report revealed the UK is seen as a “soft touch”, with illicit entry considered easy.
Between 4,000 and 10,000 women are thought to pass illegally into the UK each year.
Traffickers told officials prices ranged from £3,000 for immigrants coming from Albania, to £50,000 to come in from China.
Although no specific data is available for Merseyside specifically, there have been a number of high-profile discoveries of illegal entries to the UK through the region’s docks in recent years.
