Channel 4 goes undercover with THE SEX TRAFFICKERS (w/t) from Story Films

26 November 2020

For the first time cameras have been allowed to film with a top secret police unit, embedded with them as they use covert tactics to bring down an organised crime group.

The three-part series, commissioned by Channel 4 and directed by BAFTA winning filmmaker Peter Beard, follows one major operation into a crime group believed to be trafficking women into the UK from Brazil to be sexually exploited. Filmed over three years in the UK, Brazil and Spain, The Sex Traffickers (w/t) had unprecedented access to teams from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and the Spanish Policia Nacional.

There are thought to be 136,000 people living in modern slavery in the UK, making organised crime groups millions of pounds, but it’s one of the hardest crimes to prove and police need to use every tactic they have to bring the traffickers down. Embedded with large scale surveillance teams, this series shows the painstaking methods deployed by officers to investigate the criminals without them ever knowing, and identifying the illicit network, before striking.

The series is Executive Produced by David Nath, who was responsible for the multi-award winning The Murder Detectives.

Story Films, Peter Beard: “This was an incredibly exciting opportunity to be at the heart of something we’ve never seen in a documentary before. At times I felt as though we were in a spy thriller but meeting the victims of trafficking brought home the reality that these women face. The stakes are so high.”

Channel 4, Alisa Pomeroy: “Never before have we seen this level of highly sensitive, covert policing on British TV, bringing to light the police’s important work in bringing perpetrators of human trafficking to justice.” 

ENDS

Executive producers:  Dave Nath, Peter Beard

Production Company: Story Films

Commissioning Editor: Alisa Pomeroy  

 

For further information, please contact:  srosier@channel4.co.uk