WILTSHIRE Police are targeting the county’s airfields to reduce human trafficking for modern slavery. 

It comes as part of Operation Aidant, a nationwide initiative running from November 23 to December 3, to clamp down on Organised Criminal Gangs which use airfields and ports to carry out their crimes. 

There are 61 airfields in Wiltshire that fall under the police’s Common Travel Area and will be targeted by this scheme. 

The police say they have no intelligence to suggest gangs are using these locations to traffick modern slavery victims or carry out other crimes, but they call for the aviation community to look out for signs of the illegal activity. 

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Detective inspector Mark Kent said:  “As a landlocked county, Wiltshire has no ports which would enable criminals to exploit and smuggle modern slavery victims but we have many small airfields, facilities used regularly by people for legitimate reasons.

“Our intelligence shows that there is little criminal activity at these airfields in our county – I can assure you it doesn’t appear to be a major issue here in Wiltshire.  

“However, we mustn’t be complacent and so are asking the public who use these airfields to keep a look out for anything out of the ordinary or unusual. 

“This could be anything like a pilot acting suspiciously, an aircraft which has been modified or a concealed cargo being carried.

“We would like members of the aviation community to be vigilant and report to us anything that doesn’t seem right.”

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Wiltshire Police is working with the Border Force and its Project Pegasus operation to combat smuggling, immigration crime, and terrorism. 

To report anything suspicious, visit wiltshire.police.co.uk and search for Pegasus or call 0300 123 7000 and quote “Pegasus”