Woman arrested on suspicion of "controlling prostitution for gain" in Portsmouth following police raids

Officers carried out two raids in London Road in North End and Shakespeare Road in Kingston yesterday morning. Searches were carried out at several addresses from 10.30am.

In a statement published on Facebook yesterday (August 2), Portsmouth Police said: “This pre-planned operation has led to today’s warrants and resulted in a 50 year-old woman, being arrested on suspicion of offences including being concerned in prostitution.

“She has since been bailed until November 1 and enquiries are ongoing. We’ll continue to undertake operations like this in the city to relentlessly pursue criminality and keep our communities safe.”

Police Sergeant Jon Roper described it as a successful operation. “We arrested one female for offences of controlling prostitution for gain and modern day slavery offences. Lots of key evidence has been seized from both premises, which is really important to the investigation. We’ve engaged with one female at the London Road premises.

“She’s been spoken to, engaged with, and referrals are being made for her with regards to support which can be offered for her. This is just an example today of some key work that the team are doing, targeting those that we believe and our intelligence suggests that are involved in modern day slavery and organised immigration crime. I’m really pleased with the outcome and hopefully this will lead to a successful prosecution.”