Just a small handful of detections for brothel keeping are made in Tayside and Fife each year despite a booming sex trade.
A Courier freedom of information investigation has revealed that few people ever face action for the offence even in the face of growing fears over human trafficking.
Starting on Tuesday, our Suburban Sex Trade series draws back the veil on exactly how many detections have been made across Scotland since 2012/13 and finds out how Police Scotland has been forced to change tactics.
With officers admitting more than 200 women are working in the sex trade in Dundee alone, added to an estimated 3,000 nationwide, we hear from an MSP demanding a tougher approach to brothel keeping and the criminal gangs forcing vulnerable people into prostitution.
Our reporters investigate the seedy websites where “escorts” openly advertise sexual services and, going undercover, we visit a known brothel in Fife to confront those behind it.
A sex workers’ charity has its say on policing and we speak to a former prostitute who lifts the lid on the harrowing lifestyle that brothel work demands.
Read the first part of our investigation only in Tuesday’s Courier.
