Intel task

UK spy agencies will be used to combat modern slavery

British intelligence agencies are set to join the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking for the first time, Theresa May announced at the UN General Assembly in New York as she urged world leaders to band together to “rid the world of this evil.”

The heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are setting up a new anti-slavery taskforce, which will begin work next month, May said on Monday night in New York.

Both MI6 and GCHQ will be given additional resources to disrupt networks working in countries most involved in the slave trade, such as Albania, Nigeria and Vietnam. Meanwhile, MI5 will work with police within the UK to facilitate evidence gathering and prosecutions against people smugglers and those who benefit from the trade.

“We owe it to the innocent men, women and children who are being tricked into a life of hard labor and abuse to rid our world of this evil,” May said.

The new taskforce is intended to serve as a model for other countries, the prime minister said as she called for international cooperation including intelligence sharing and joint investigations.