Human trafficking is one of the most sordid and unpleasant criminal activities of the modern era.

It is nothing less than slavery - something all right-thinking people would hope had long ago been consigned to the dustbin of history - with vulnerable and desperate people brought into the country and forced to work in back-breaking labour or in the sex industry.

So it is a positive move that a new Human Trafficking Unit has been set up by West Yorkshire Police, with a squad of detectives dedicated to tackling this most vile of activities.

Those trafficked into the country often come here with the hope of creating a better life for themselves, duped by bogus offers of genuine work and a better quality of life than where they come from.

The reality is that they are forced to "work off" the cost of their transport here, put up in squalid accommodation that their "wages" are stripped to pay for, and forced to work in unsafe, unregulated and often illegal industries.

These unfortunates are completely under the radar of the authorities and those of us who live normal lives, and they inhabit a desperate twilight world where they are, in effect, prisoners to the criminal gangs who control them.

It is something that must be stamped out immediately, and this new team of specialist officers not only shows that West Yorkshire Police is determined to do just that, but gives some measure of hope to those who might be trapped in such a dreadful situation.

We like to think we live in enlightened times, and this horrific trade in contemporary slavery is something that simply has no place here.