Birmingham brothel keeper who arranged for women to be trafficked around the UK jailed
A brothel keeper who arranged for a dozen women to be trafficked around the UK as sex workers has been jailed for more than four years.
Jie Ke Wang, who ran a brothel at his home in central Birmingham, operated a callout service – where clients would request a woman be sent to their address for sex work.
Others were ‘rotated’ around the country to keep a supply of ‘fresh’ women for clients.
Last August, Wang was jailed for 15 months for managing a brothel at his home in Masshouse Plaza which was discovered by undercover officers.
Investigation of mobile phones following his arrest revealed Wang’s involvement in trafficking women around the UK.
Text messages revealed how he would haggle with customers on prices, and that he knew where girls were in the country.
He would store contacts in his phone not as names but as areas such as Cov (Coventry) and Not (Nottingham).
He said he earned £500 every week as he played a ‘managerial’ role in deciding where the women would go to work.
One text message recovered from Wang’s phone from a client read: “Do you have anyone available tonight.”
Wang sent a photograph of a woman, and arranged for her to spend two hours at a hotel in Birmingham for £300.
Another message exchange revealed how one girl was sent to Wrexham for an overnight ‘outcall’ at cost of £600 for eight hours.
The 48-year-old admitted arranging travel of someone with a view to exploitation and was jailed for four years and five months on Wednesday.
Det Insp Al Teague, from West Midlands Police's Force Priorities Team, said: “Wang’s business was the sexual exploitation of women and a form of modern slavery.
“He would negotiate the terms of the encounters the girls would have without consulting them.
“These are not victimless crimes – women were being exploited for financial gain, and we will always look to bring those involved in crimes like this to justice.”
A number of the women who were working for Wang have now been referred on for help and support by other organisations.
If you know of people who’ve fallen victim to modern slavery, police say "we are ready to help".
The sentencing comes as police launched a major operation to target serious and organised crime in the West Midlands: Operation Target.
Officers are taking a defiant stand against a range of serious and organised crime offences – from drug dealing and burglary, to cyber-crime and fraud.
Police will be using local intelligence, seizing goods, carrying out warrants and targeting offenders as part of Operation Target’s ongoing crackdown against serious and organised crime.
