Record number of people charged with human trafficking

Police at workPhoto: Police,trafficking
Last year  103 charges of human trafficking were brought to court in Norway. That’s an increase of 119 percent from the year before.
In 2013 and 2014  47 such charges were brought to court, according to P4. In 2015, the number was 103. Most of the charges are from last fall.
– What we have seen is that there is a significant increase in the number of charges. A significant proportion of the charges have been pressed in Østfold police district, says Astrid Borge, head of the section for criminal cases in the Police Directorate.
The Directorate thinks this is related to the flow of refugees to Europe and Norway.  31 145 asylum seekers came to Norway in 2015. It is impossible to quantify how many of those have been smuggled into the country, according to the Police Directorate.
Source: NTB scanpix/ Norway Today