British authorities arrested two suspects accused of holding three women against their will in a house in southern London for over 30 years.
According to the AFP, Scotland Yard agents arrested these suspects on Thursday, November 21. Apparently the three women had been treated as slaves.
The rescued women whose names have not been revealed to the media are a Malaysian, 69; an Irish woman, 57 and an English woman, 30. They were freed on October 25, although the arrests over the case took place on November 21.
London authorities detailed that the suspects, a man and a woman, both 67-years-old, were released on bail until next January, when a trial against them will begin.
Last October, the organization Freedom Charity contacted the police after receiving a call from a woman who said she had been held against her will in a house in London for over 30 years. This prompted an investigation that culminated in the rescue of the kidnapped women on October 25, reported CNN.
"We have established that the three women were held in this situation for at least 30 years. They had some controlled freedom," said Inspector Kevin Hayland, of the Counter-Human Trafficking Unit of London.
Although for the moment it has not been confirmed if the women were subjected to physical or sexual abuse, authorities have said that the women were found to be "extremely traumatized".
"We're still in an early part of the investigation, we're not investigating sexual crimes, no arrests for sexual crimes have been made, those are the circumstances so far," Hayland said, quoted by CNN.
The Inspector said that he's working to provide support for victims, and that he started an investigation to clear up the facts surrounding the captivity accusations.
It seems like a TV documentary about forced marriages which included a description of the actions carried out by Freedom Charity motivated one of the kidnapped women to make the phone call that would free her.
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