Cops liken busting UK city’s pop-up brothels to ‘catching Al Capone’

Police say they are taking an "Al Capone approach" to bringing down pop-up brothels in a bustling UK town.

Specialist officers in Hull have just finished a three-week campaign to raise awareness of the problem and have even made some arrests. Detective Sergeant Rich Kirk, who heads the Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) team, told Hull Live: "For us, our work is 365 days a year, but this period has been about raising awareness.

"We have made a couple of arrests and visited two or three places," he added. "We want to continue raising awareness, which is what we have been doing in the last few weeks."

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Pop-up brothels are usually set up through short-term rentals in flats or houses, often without the property owners' knowledge. They then advertise their services online. Many of them will reel in customers using one of two "escort" websites.

DS Kirk and his team have recently made two arrests in London following a joint operation with the Met Police. A 20-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman were taken into custody on suspicion of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, as well as assault and controlling prostitution in the Humber region.

However, the team have their work cut out when it comes to formally accusing suspects. It can be difficult to press modern slavery charges, so cops are instead charging defendants with financial crimes – just as US authorities jailed infamous gangster Al Capone for tax evasion, a story later immortalised in the hit film The Untouchables.

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"When a criminal exploits someone it is not easy to prove modern slavery so we are looking at other means to bring them to justice," DS Kirk added. "The brothels are largely cash-based, so we can look at who the payments are being made to and whether they are being transferred.

"We cannot always prove exploitation, but we can get them on things like proceeds of crime or money laundering. It is a bit like how they managed to get Al Capone."

The approach appears to be working, too – the number of pop-up brothels has decreased by more than half, while the number of women advertising on escort websites is also going down.

"The number of pop-up brothels peaked at around 230-240 across Humberside, but now it is down to around 100. I would like to think we have contributed to this fall in numbers," DS Kirk said.

DS Kirk said pop-up brothels are appearing in our towns and cities in plain sight and can pose a danger to the women working there, who are often being exploited. He urged members of the public to keep an eye out for signs an illicit venue might be in operation.

"We would encourage anyone who has suspicions to report them to us on Humberside Police on 101, in case of an emergency 999, or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111. This specific intelligence allows us to target properties directly and safeguard the women involved. With the assistance of our communities, we can work to safeguard women who are exploited sexually."

Signs of a pop-up brothel may include:

  • Limited activities usually associated with new people moving into a property – for example, no removals companies.
  • A property that is limited or scarcely, furnished – it may appear no one actually lives there.
  • Multiple women may live at the same address or be brought too and from that address by an individual.
  • Multiple vehicles visiting the property at any one time.
  • Multipble frequent visitors, usually male, who don’t stay for long.

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