11 August, 2017
It said there were now more than 300 live policing operations targeting modern slavery in the UK.
A woman, aged 24, and a 29-year-old man were held on suspicion of modern slavery in a raid on a business premises in High Street, Northwich.
"The growing body of evidence we are collecting points to the scale being far larger than anyone previously thought".
Will Kerr said there had been a big increase in human trafficking and modern slavery cases in the last 12 months, but there was no evidence it was linked to Brexit.
Data released earlier this year by the NCA showed the number of suspected victims of slavery and human trafficking had more than doubled in three years.
There are now more than 300 live police operations targeting modern slavery in the United Kingdom, with alleged victims as young as 12 being sold to families in the United Kingdom from Europe, the report reveals.
Human traffickers and slave masters are using the internet to lure their victims with hollow promises of education, jobs and even marriage. They are to be found working in vehicle washes and in construction.
"Modern slavery has rightly been made a priority across law enforcement, but it is a hidden crime so the onus is on us to seek it out".
More than a dozen of the highest risk operations targeting organised crime groups are being led by the NCA.
Will Kerr, director of vulnerabilities for the NCA, said: "The more that we look for modern slavery, the more we find evidence of the widespread abuse of the vulnerable".
He added that the crime affects all types of communities across every part of the Britain and is hard to spot because often victims don't even know they are being exploited.
In response the NCA has started a new campaign focused on sexual and labor exploitation, explaining how the public can help stop it.
His comments come as the NCA launches an advertising campaign raising awareness of the signs of modern slavery in everyday life.
"As you go about your normal daily life and as you're engaged in a legitimate economy accessing goods and services, there is a growing and a good chance you will come across a victim who has been exploited in one of those different sectors", he said.
"They may see something they feel is not quite right".
"Gangs know they can exploit the most vulnerable in our society and they do because they have realised they can make a profit repeatedly", he said. That might be someoneseeming afraid, vulnerable or being controlled, moved around or forced towork against their will. "If they do, we need the public to speak for us", he added. "We need a system where adult victims approach it, so we need to provide more support".
Modern slavery takes many forms but the most common include sexual exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude.
Since April the NCA has been hosting the Joint Slavery and Trafficking Analysis Centre, bringing together experts from policing, Immigration Enforcement, Border Force, HMRC and the GLAA to share and analyse intelligence.
The report comes a day after Mr Hyland accused the NCA came of not taking the crime seriously enough and allowing important information about modern slavery offences to "sit dormant" on databases.
