Four men arrested in south Wales as part of slavery investigation

Operation Imperial officers arrest four men in Rumney area of Cardiff as part of long-running forced labour investigation

Officers from Operation Imperial in Wales have arrested four men as part of a long-running investigation into slavery and servitude. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Four people have been arrested as part of a long-running investigation into slavery and forced labour in south Wales.

The men, aged 57, 37, 34 and 33, are all from the Rumney area of Cardiff and were arrested after police executed warrants in the Welsh capital and Bristol early on Monday.

Officers from Operation Imperial, a unit set up by Gwent police to look into allegations of slavery and servitude that is now heading the largest inquiry of its kind in the UK.

A Gwent police spokesperson said: "Officers from the Gwent police Operation Imperial team, working with colleagues from South Wales police and Avon and Somerset police, have this morning executed warrants at five addresses in the Cardiff and Bristol areas. The Operation Imperial team is investigating alleged offences of slavery, servitude, forced labour, false imprisonment, kidnap and assaults.

Four men from the Rumney area of Cardiff have been arrested."

As part of the operation, a number of vulnerable adults have already been recovered and earlier arrests have been made.

Detective superintendent Paul Griffiths, who leads Operation Imperial, said: "The alleged offences we are investigating are extremely serious."

Last month the Wales Office minister Baroness Randerson visited the Imperial team. She praised the work Gwent police and agencies across the UK were doing.

She said: "Human trafficking and slavery are wicked crimes. They denigrate human beings and represent an unacceptable abuse of human rights.

"Tackling this hidden crime is an immense and complex challenge. It is clear that many of these crimes have a cross-border element and that is why I am very clear that it is important that we continue to cooperate with our European colleagues and neighbourhoods to tackle these offences. Criminals don't respect international borders so we must work closely with our European counterparts to bring them to justice."