Police hail taxi driver who rescued woman from sex trafficker

Police have praised an Asian taxi driver who saved a pregnant woman trafficked into the UK to be prostituted.

Tahir Mehmood, a Coventry-based taxi driver, saved a Romanian woman on February 20 last year after realising that she was being coerced into sex trade.

The cab was hailed by Robert Enescu, 26, who asked to ferry the woman to a location across the city. But once inside the cab, the woman started weeping.

“I said ‘what's up love? Why are you crying?’ I stopped the taxi and said ‘just tell me what's happened,’” he told Mail Online.

“She said ‘I don't know here, I just came here four days before, come to here to do massage, but they tell me go to prostitution, to do sex, but I don't want to do it. Can you help me go back to my country? The man said I got to do prostitution sex but I don't want to do it.’”

Mehmood, a father of two, immediately alerted the police and Enescu was arrested.

Detective Inspector Wes Martin of West Midlands Police's Public Protection Unit, praised Mehmood for recognising the signs of human trafficking.

Det Insp Martin said: “The taxi driver is going to be referred for a commendation because what a fantastic member of the public he was to do what he did.

“He's a family man, a local Asian taxi driver, and it was a very honourable thing he did.”

Coventry councillor Naeem Akhtar said: “The council provides training and information to licensed taxi drivers that if they see something suspicious and believe something is wrong then they must contact the relevant agency.

“This driver could have just ignored what he saw and the victim would have ended up in a brothel. Mr Mehmood's actions saved her.”