A slavery gang victim ran naked through a Cambuslang housing estate trying to escape his captors.
The terrified Asian man banged on the doors of homes in the modern street of detached and semi-detached homes begging to be rescued on Thursday night.
But frightened neighbours were too scared to intervene and minutes later the naked man was grabbed and bundled away by two men, one of whom casually told worried onlookers in a foreign accent: “Don’t worry about it. He’s drunk”.
Police later swooped on the house in Plantation Grove, Cambuslang, smashing the front door and arresting two men.
One resident told how the horrific scenes unfolded on Thursday night last week in the modern street of Taylor Wimpey houses, which sell for more than £300,000.
He said: “The man was naked and running around looking for help but nobody wanted to open their doors to him.
“One neighbour did and thinking he was at it, he took a swing at him.
“The poor chap was hysterical. He was begging for help but he was grabbed by two men and taken back to the house he had escaped from.
“Later, the police came and used a battering ram to get inside and arrested everyone.
“There were mattresses all over the floor.”
The detached property from which the man escaped is thought to have been rented out for £1400 a month.
Neighbours say the owners served an eviction notice following the police raid.
One man living nearby said: “The police came absolutely mob-handed.
“They battered the door down with a battering ram like you see on TV programmes. They searched the house and huckled the people inside away.
“One of the cars, a Mercedes, got taken away in a police transporter to be investigated.
“We had been suspicious because the windows of the home were always covered with black bin bags or the curtains were always closed. You never saw them during the day and they never put their bins out.
“One day a few months back, unusually there was a gap in the curtains and a neighbour saw lots of electrical extension cables on the kitchen table.
“She was so suspicious she took her kid to the door last Halloween and a Chinese lady came out and posed for a selfie with the child and then I started worrying about what they might do with my grandson.
“If something happened to my wee grandson, I’d be devastated.
“It’s a private housing estate and not what you should have to worry about.
“People often arrived at the house in luxury vehicles in the middle of the night.”
He added: “A policeman told a neighbour they had been tracking them and this incident gave them the excuse to take action.”
Locals, who do not want to be named, described the modern-built estate as a respectable neighbourhood.
They say they often discussed whether criminal activity was going on but did not alert police because they had no evidence. One neighbour told our sister paper, the Daily Record: “At night, cars would arrive and wake us all up. It was like nobody lived there during the day then in the middle of the night there was a lot of activity.
“The neighbours think the people were being trafficked for sex or to be made to work in nail bars.
“The house has been rented out and for the last 18 months Chinese or Asian people moved in. We all thought there was something dodgy.
“We’re speaking out because slavery seems to be bigger now than it was centuries before, but it’s a shock to find it could be happening on your doorstep.
“There were mattresses everywhere and obviously a lot of people were staying there.
“I’m very bitter about this because it has been going on under our noses.”
Anti-trafficking campaigners have warned that lockdown has created an even more dangerous environment for victims.
Andrew Wallis, chief executive of Unseen – the charity behind the modern slavery helpline – said: “The car washes and nail bars might have disappeared because of Covid-19, but that’s not to say that the victims of modern slavery have disappeared too.
“They’re still there and they might even be in a much more desperate situation.”
A spokesman for Police Scotland confirmed a swoop on the property.
He said: “Police Scotland was made aware of a disturbance on Plantation Grove in Cambuslang shortly before 11.30pm on Thursday, May 14.
“A 38-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with a breach of the peace.
“He will appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court at a later date.
“A 31-year-old man will also be reported to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with a drugs offence.”
