Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, raised the issue of sex trafficking in the county in Parliament earlier this year and gave his support to the Blue Blindfold Campaign, which aims to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Mr Bone, who is part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Trafficking of Women and Children, said: "The police operation is excellent news.

"It just shows Northamptonshire is not immune from this – not just for young girls sold into sexual explotation, but with people forced into working like this.

"The police have done an excellent job in highlighting this here and it is the biggest success in the whole of the country so far.

"I am not surprised this has happened in Northamptonshire because it is so cosmopolitan and people may not have noticed if someone was struggling with the language or acting unusually – but this is a nationwide issue."

He added: "4,000 people each year are trafficked just for sexual exploitation, without even looking at labour exploitation.

"I would like to see tighter controls for people coming to work in this country.

"At the moment they can get in easily, but with a bit of investigation you could find the ones coming in for legitimate jobs and the ones coming in against their will.

"I would also like human trafficking to become a key target for the police."

Kettering MP Philip Hollobone said "It's brilliant that the local police, through their new protective services, have undertaken this initiative.

"A lot of people want to see a crackdown on human trafficking and illegal working and this sort of operation will be well supported by local residents."