Thousands of children work as slaves on illegal cannabis farms in London

New figures released Monday display the scale of illegal cannabis agriculture in the British capital, where police said they had found 314 farms since 2016, RT writes.

A detective, Lee Hill said boys and Vietnamese teenagers are often asked to monitor their properties in case they face rival gangs or a police raid. By thus exposing yourself to the danger of life.

I've found kids that are being used. They're there to protect the property. The detective said.

Hill said farms were historically found on industrial property, but that it was becoming increasingly common to find them in the ceilings and properties where they have residences.

Jacob Sobik, a spokesman for scavenging, told Reuters that the figures were extremely disturbing and that this means potentially thousands of children and young people are being trafficked from Vietnam and exploited by ruthless criminal gangs.

Last year, Chloe Sutter, head of a child protection organisation against trafficking, said not many people using cannabis were aware of levels and exploitation.

The British government faced criticism when it refused to offer asylum to a Vietnamese orphan who had been trafficked to work in the cannabis industry.

More than 2,000 trafficking victims have been referred to authorities in Britain last year, an increase of 66 per cent last year.