TWENTY five people have been arrested by Cambridgeshire police and a network of brothels has been shut down in an operation against human trafficking for the sex trade.Operation Radium, now part of the national Operation Pentameter Two, was publicly laun

TWENTY five people have been arrested by Cambridgeshire police and a network of brothels has been shut down in an operation against human trafficking for the sex trade.

Operation Radium, now part of the national Operation Pentameter Two, was publicly launched last August in a bid to halt the trade and rescue the young victims.

Police officers heading the operation appealed to the public for information about the activities of the criminal gangs believed to be responsible for trafficking young women from the Far East, Eastern Europe and Africa into Cambridgeshire for use as prostitutes.

Detectives announced today (Thursday) they have arrested 25 suspects, while 10 young women have been rescued and helped to return to their home countries or been taken to safe accommodation to be cared for.

And in one spin-off operation from Radium, detectives are optimistic that they have closed down at least one network of foreign-run brothels across East Anglia.

Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Vanterpool, the head of Operation Radium, said: "In the six months since the public launch of this operation, we have taken decisive action which has hit hard at the sex trafficking trade and the activities of those behind it.

"Much of the intelligence which has helped us has come from members of the public who have called, sometimes with vital clues.

"Operation Radium is continuing. We are determined, with the help of the public for which we are very grateful, to put an end to a trade which destroys the lives of young women."

* Five people have so far been charged in connection with two cases of trafficking.