UK mobile networks asked to cut off sex trade before London Olympics

LONDON - City Hall chiefs have called on top phone companies to help crack down on prostitution and trafficking in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics.

The Telegraph quoted Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for policing, as saying that mobile phone numbers are a valuable resource for those behind the sex industry, and therefore, an agreement must be reached between mobile phone networks and police to take them out of use as soon as they are identified.

“We want a streamlined, agreed process for barring these numbers because they become very valuable for a number of reasons. Firstly, they become a source of repeat business. Plus the numbers operate as a kind of switchboard, there will be several poor girls operating behind the number,” Malthouse said.

Chief executives of all the major mobile operators have been invited to a meeting at City Hall in October.

City Hall named Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3, Virgin and T-Mobile as the main companies in their sights.

Police have already warned that the Olympics may fuel an unprecedented boom in London’s sex industry.(ANI)