‘Operation Springfield’ was the headline on the screen. Jean cleared her throat and spoke in a broad Glaswegian accent.

‘Op Springfield is the investigation into a Bosnian Serb gang that are trafficking vulnerable women into the UK from Sarajevo, mostly with the intention of working them as prostitutes and, as a bonus, using them for sham marriages to foreign nationals already here. Once married, they claim EU status and get a five-year stay. The grooms are charged a fortune, up to ten grand a pop.’

She pressed the remote, and the slide changed to mug-shots of four men and a woman.

‘These are our main subjects. Sat at the top is Mira Branko, who is also the mother of Aleks and Luka Branko. Mira’s husband, Zjelko Branko, is currently in jail in Switzerland serving a nine-year sentence. He was apparently very well connected and involved in high-value robberies of jewellers all over Europe and beyond. Interpol have him pegged as one of the Pink Panther diamond thieves who’ve been tearing the arse out of all the high-priced jewellers in Monaco and places like that, proper multi-million-pound thefts. There is intelligence that he was an active paramilitary during the Balkan wars and was responsible for some terrible acts. We also have some unconfirmed intelligence that he was responsible for a number of contract killings that took place across the Balkans. All-in-all, he is a thoroughly dangerous sadist. We have literally just managed to deport their footsoldiers: Zoran Radic and Mirko Zoric. All five came over in the nineties as refugees and one of our caseworkers managed to prove that Zoran and Mirko came over on false documents. This obviously leaves us in a position where they are now short-handed and may be looking for a new recruit to assist them. This is where we hope you can come in. Any questions so far?’

Tom had nothing yet, so Inspector McDonald continued.

‘Mira tends to deal with the girls and acts as the Madam when they’re working in the pop-up brothels. The brothers recruit them in Sarajevo and bring them over on forged or stolen Slovenian passports, which is handy for them with Slovenia being in the EU. They generally come overland by car and ferry, but sometimes by air. Mira can be particularly spiteful and treats the girls like crap once they’re here.

‘They’ve been using a dirty solicitor in East London to make the introductions to prospective grooms and submit the applications to Visas and Immigration once the sham marriage has gone down.’ She pressed the remote again and an image of an African man in his thirties flashed onto the screen. He was slim, with thinning hair, a clipped beard, and moustache. He was smiling slightly at the camera; Tom guessed it was a publicity photograph. The man had deep-set, impenetrable eyes that projected no warmth to accompany the smile.