A BASINGSTOKE man was arrested and around £6,000 recovered after a potential brothel was identified.

Last week police officers visited an address in the Centros Apartments on Fisherton Street in Salisbury, after intelligence work identified a site that may have been used for sexual exploitation.

Police had also received information that a man was visiting the flat on a particular day.  

A 41-year-old man from Basingstoke was then arrested on suspicion of controlling prostitution for gain.

He was taken to Melksham Police Custody and was released under investigation.

During a search of the property in question, around £6,000 in cash was recovered, as well as several items linked to sexual activity.

As part of the investigation a woman linked to the address has been protected and supported by specially trained officers.

Wiltshire Police's newly established exploitation and missing team (EMT), which was part of the investigation, had been set up to target adult and child sexual exploitation, as well as wider child exploitation in relation to drugs and organised criminal gangs.

Detective Inspector Eirin Martin from EMT said: "Following months of intelligence work in this part of the county, this is a really good result for the team.

"We have been set up to focus on those vulnerable victims - both adult and child - who fall prey to exploitation by organised groups.

"We have a lot of work to continue helping and protecting those targeted by unscrupulous gangs who traffic and exploit people so they can carry out their illegal activities."

DI Martin added: "This type of crime is more common than people think and we would ask any member of the public to report any suspected exploitation to us.

"The public's eyes and ears are extremely helpful in our fight against this type of activity."