Scotland Yard sting foils plot to 'sell virginities' of young girls for £50,000 to wealthy Arabs

A 14-year-old girl was used as bait by the gang who sent her photograph and email to a potential customer ahead of an illicit meeting at a central London hotel.

The trafficking ring transported six women aged between 17 and 22 from the North West to the capital last September to provide sexual services.

But they were trapped in a sting operation involving Scotland Yard detectives who exchanged messages with members under the guise of potential punters.

It is understood police began investigating the gang after they left a letter at one hotel offering their services which was passed to officers by a concerned employee.

Details of the conspiracy can be revealed after four people from north-west London and Wigan, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to offences at Harrow Crown Court.

Mahrookh Jamali, 41, and Sara Bordbar, 43, both of north-west London, Fatima Haghengal, 24, and Rasoul Gholampour, 30, both of Wigan, admitted the conspiracy.

They pleaded guilty to working together to traffic six women aged between 17 and 22 from the North West to London between July and October last year for sexual exploitation.

The three women defendants, Jamali, Haghengal and Bordbar, who wept throughout the hearing, also admitted conspiracy to incite prostitution for gain between the same dates.

The judge ordered the charge to lie on file for Gholampour. A third charge of conspiracy to arrange the prostitution of children will lie on file of all four defendants.

Prosecutor Bill McGivern said the young women were not forced into sexual services, but were 'coerced' into offering them after dancing for clients.

Target: Wealthy Arabs in London were sought after to pay for sex with virgins
He said the 14-year-old girl used as bait was an 'aggravating factor' of the case, but said there was no evidence she was to be used as a prostitute.

Mr McGivern said the young women were asked to travel to London to dance for clients, but were then offered the chance to sell their bodies too.

He said: 'This was a case where there clearly was corruption, but no coercion or threats. There may have been pressure as well.

'But it was pressure in the sense of: "You have come down, this is what you get if you go further than a simple dance".'
The court heard Haghengal offered to prostitute herself during the email correspondence, while the homes of Jamali and Bordbar were used as a base.

Judge Alan Greenwood was told Gholampour admitted possessing extreme pornography, including images of bestiality, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court in July.

Dee Connolly, for Jamali, said the undercover operation was 'tempting the impossible', no sexual services were sold and that no money changed hands.

The judge said the four, who have been in custody since their arrest last year, will be sentenced tomorrow. The hearing begins at 11am.

Security guards were called to the courtroom after a friend of the defendants started shouting the four were innocent after they admitted the offences.