Sheffield modern slavery: Police make six arrests across eight car washes in crackdown on modern slavery

A police crackdown on modern slavery targeting car washes in Sheffield saw six people arrested for immigration and drug offences yesterday.

Dubbed 'Operation Bubbles', the crackdown on exploitation at hand car washes by South Yorkshire Police led to 'safeguarding visits' at eight car washes on Wednesday (August 3).

The visits came as part of a police day of action known as Operation Duxford, which in total saw 14 arrests across five warrants, with drugs, cash, and weapons seized by officers.

Officers say a number of potentially vulnerable victims were also safeguarded.

Chief Inspector Gareth Thomas, who was in charge of Operation Duxford on Wednesday, said: “So far it has been an extremely successful day with more activity to follow.

“Today is all about us showing our communities the work that we do to tackle important issues such as exploitation and modern slavery day-in day-out.

"We want to show the public that if they report concerns to us we will act upon them, and there is support available out there for victims of exploitation, and they are not alone.

“This is about us being on the front foot, being proactive, and intervening as early as possible. This is very much a team effort and without the support of all the districts, additional resources from our Crime Services team and Operational Support Unit, and our partner agencies, we would not be able to achieve the results that we have.”