A 15-YEAR-OLD child was found working in a nail bar as police targeted human traffickers.

The Press was invited to join Police Scotland’s day of action as they targeted several premises across West Fife to identify trafficking victims.

Across Scotland, around 500 officers, including 50 from partner agencies, visited 80 premises and locations in all 13 geographical police divisions of Scotland.

A 15-year-old child was found to be working in a nail bar, with three other individuals also reported for immigration offences.

The Press attended with police a food processing plant in Rosyth, in the hopes of identifying potential victims and making sure they were safe.

Detective Inspector Stuart Morris told the Press the goals of the multi-agency operation during the visit, and highlighted key indicators that would suggest a worker was the victim of human trafficking.

“The main objective of today was to find out whether anyone here is being trafficked or living in conditions that would amount to labour exploitation,” he said.

“They may have injuries consistent with being abused or restrained. They may not have access to their bank accounts or their passports, and would not readily speak to you directly, a third party would talk to you and answer on their behalf.

“They could also appear to be withdrawn and in poor physical condition.

“We do know it’s happening in Scotland and in Europe, and we’re going to several locations in West Fife.”

Car washes in Dunfermline were also targeted and Mr Morris stated what their intentions were when entering the premises.

“When you go into these places, it’s important you separate the staff from each other. We have to make sure that we’re talking to them and not someone else speaking for them. We must make sure they know the reason why we’re here.

“We’ll ask them questions on whether they have access to funds and their passport, and how they got the job and how they arrived here. All questions that would provide indications that they’re being trafficked.”

Police Scotland were backed in their efforts across the country by colleagues from HMRC, Immigration Enforcement, British Transport Police and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.

Mr Morris added: “When looking at the maritime industry, there’s a lot of health and safety issues, so having agencies that know a lot about staff and about working in these conditions, it’s definitely important to have them working with us to help identify potential victims.”