Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Subhas Panday says internal human trafficking is taking place in T&T. He said so while contributing to yesterday's suspended debate in the Senate on a Human Trafficking Bill. He said the Government agreed to suspend debate on the legislation for a few hours to consider the recommendations by Opposition and Independent Senators. Debate is expected to resume at 10.30 am today.
Panday said Government had agreed to take action against people who engage in sexually immoral acts in T&T. He said there was "a different type of trafficking" which was not addressed in the bill being debated. Panday said that was "trafficking within the borders."
He said there were "houses of disrepute" in north and even central Trinidad where the owners put adds in the newspapers attracting girls from remote districts into the city, making them sex slaves. He said new legislation would deal effectively with those situations. "So we are dealing with trans-border crime and local crime," Panday told legislators. He said while the population was crying out against such acts, it had a duty to ensure it did not occur.