Five in court after joint op' in Derby

Three men and two women are to appear at Derby Crown Court today following an ongoing multi-agency investigation into alleged modern slavery.

All five are charged with conspiracy to commit offences under the Modern Slavery Act as well as conspiracy to commit offences under both the Coroners and Justice Act and the Asylum and Immigration Act.

The five suspect were arrested last month during a multi-agency initiative - Operation Doubrava. This was led by Derbyshire Constabulary, assisted by officers from the GLAA, Department of Work and Pensions, HM Revenues and Customs, and the Latvian authorities.

Those charged are all from Derby and are: Ainars Pelcis (53) of Rutland Street, Ilgvars Pelcis (32), of St James Road, Karlis Aleksandrovs (41), of Patmore Square and Magdalena Kleina (54), of Rutland Street,  Jolanta Pelce (35) of Patmore Square. All were remanded in custody.

A sixth suspect, Mareks Kaira who is 24 and from Lativia, was arrested by South Yorkshire Police at Doncaster airport on Friday.

He was also charged with the same conspiracy offences linked to slavery, trafficking and exploitation offences committed whilst in Derby.

Kaira appeared before South Derbyshire magistrates on Saturday morning and has been remanded to re-appear in court on 13 November.