Police are trying to reunite a mother with her child after they were rescued from human trafficking operations in the county.

After becoming a victim of an organised crime group and being subject to human trafficking, the woman was able to escape and contact police for help.

Officers received the call at around 10.45pm on Saturday, December 30, from the woman who reported that she had been held against her will.

Police were able to locate the victim and take her to the local police station in west Essex where she could be kept safe.

Following enquiries, police officers established that her child had also been the victim of human trafficking and had been found in south Essex previously.

No arrests have been made but enquiries into the offences are continuing.

The victims are continuing to receive safeguarding from specialist officers and partners.

Detective Inspector Mark Barber, from Essex Police’s public protection investigations hub, said: “As soon as we received the woman’s call for help, we brought her into our police station, safeguarded her and made further enquiries.

“This is a great example of how seriously we take human trafficking and the efforts we will go to, to deal with it and in cases, reunite families who have been manipulated and experience these horrendous crimes.”

Essex Police are not revealing any more details about the victims or where the offences took place.

A person is trafficked if they are brought to or moved around a country by others who threaten, frighten, hurt and force them to do work or other things they don’t want to do.

There are number of indicators which may suggest human trafficking is taking place.

These include a heavy presence of security personnel, barred windows, locked doors or surveillance cameras. For more information, visit essex.police.uk/beavoice