MSNBC to Premiere Documentary on Sex Trafficking in the United Kingdom

Human trafficking—the buying and selling of human lives for profit—is a growing menace across the globe. For years, MSNBC’s documentary team has investigated and chronicled this gruesome business in the ongoing series "Sex Slaves."

On Sunday, May 1, at 10pm ET, MSNBC will spotlight one of the least-suspected countries where human trafficking has made inroads in "Sex Slaves: UK."

Human trafficking is now a $500 million business in the United Kingdom, and according to Bridgette Carr, a law professor at the University of Michigan and an expert in human trafficking, "selling human beings can be easier and is definitely more profitable than selling drugs." The two-hour special, narrated by TODAY’s Natalie Morales, looks at an extraordinary nationwide investigation undertaken by the British police, Operation Pentameter 2. The film takes viewers behind-the-scenes into the gripping tales of police work one usually only sees in fictional crime shows—but these stories are a harsh reality for countless victims.

October Films, which produced the film in association with MSNBC, had extraordinary access to the undercover investigations and numerous brothel busts staged by the British police. Throughout the film, MSNBC follows Britain’s Operation Pentameter 2 as they locate, arrest and finally bring to justice those criminals who have sold others into sexual slavery. By the end of Pentameter’s three-year investigation, British police were able to rescue 164 victims, arrest 406 suspects and charge 67 of them with human trafficking.

Despite its great success, as Ms. Morales points out at the conclusion, "Since the end of Operation Pentameter Two, there have been no other coordinated national operations in Britain to combat sex trafficking." This brings home yet again the fact that human trafficking in Britain and here in the United States rarely receives the legal resources it needs to stop this growing problem.

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October Films is a leading British independent film and television production company based in the London. They produce award- winning content for broadcasters worldwide and have a well-established reputation for smart, hard- hitting factual programming.