Three people imprisoned for trafficking women to brothels

Three people have been jailed for human trafficking and running brothels in flats in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Qin Huang, 31, Guolei Huang, 35, and Xiao Min, 38, were arrested and charged as part of Operation Fasthold, a joint investigation by Police Scotland and the Home Office.

Women, mainly from East Asia, were exploited as prostitutes in apartments where sex was sold between December 2018 and September 2021.

They were sentenced to four to eight years in prison by the High Court in Glasgow.

Min was jailed for eight and a half years and Qin Huang for eight years after pleading guilty to charges under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act, including “complicity in prostitution.”

Guolei Huang was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

He had previously pleaded guilty to helping run a brothel in three of the apartments.

Judge Poole said they had “played a significant and significant role in the operation of the criminal network operating in Scotland”.

“The running of brothels and the trafficking of women for prostitution involves the deliberate degradation of human beings,” she said.

“Prostitution is a dehumanizing experience. Women often end up deprived of the ability to act in their own interests.

“They are not valued as people, but as a potential source of profit. »

Min had initially entered the UK illegally and was living in south London.

Defense barrister Thomas Ross KC said he became involved when he fell into debt.

Qin Huang arrived in the UK on a student visa, was a failed asylum seeker and was living on £140 a week in benefits while owing money to people in China.

The court heard she believed the women working in the brothels had “consented” to what they were doing.

But Huang's lawyer, Mark Moir KC, said she “understood” the charge was “serious”.

Guolei Huang arrived in the UK in 2018 and was arrested in a Liverpool brothel.

Iain McSporran KC, defending, said it appeared he did not view the women as “victims” but as working “voluntarily”.

Mr McSporran added that Guolei Huang maintained he did not know the other two women were in the dock with him.

“Important financial products”

In February 2020, police learned that a flat in Dennistoun, Glasgow, was being run as what was described as a “Chinese brothel”.

Agents raided months later and found Guolei Huang with one of the trafficked women.

Three other brothels were discovered in the Garnethill, Dennistoun and Port Dundas areas, and another was discovered in Edinburgh's Old Town.

In May 2021, Qin Huang was found to be operating from new premises in Townhead in Glasgow and another apartment selling sex was discovered in Kelvinbridge.

The court heard of five women brought to the UK by the gang.

Two of them were in debt in China, another had been “recruited” into a casino and another had been “recommended” to go to Scotland after working illegally in England.

A fifth woman had her passport taken away and was helped to “establish herself” as a prostitute.

Prosecutor Greg Farrell told the court last month that the three men were part of a “sophisticated and significant criminal network that organised, recruited and facilitated prostitution”.

Mr Farrell added that they made “significant financial profits” by using false identities to rent flats to be used as brothels.

The court heard that £200,000 was spent on adverts on an adult website by a so-called “commercial agency” company, but there was no evidence that the three defendants had funded them.

He said Qin Huang was involved in the “day-to-day management” of the women and apartments and helped organize online advertisements.

Guolei Huang was a “custodian” and Min had a “supervisor” role in leasing the properties.

Detective Inspector Mark Dines of Police Scotland said human trafficking was a “despicable crime” with an “immeasurable long-term impact” on victims.

“We are committed to working with our partners to conduct thorough investigations, identify those responsible and protect vulnerable victims,” ​​he added.

Prosecutors have asked for serious crime prevention orders to be made against all three.

These are designed to combat and monitor the activities of criminals once they are released.