Police in Edinburgh have reported that Vietnamese children are being trafficked into the Scottish capital in record numbers, according to national newspaper The Scotsman.

In the last 18 months, 16 Vietnamese teenagers had been found to be trafficked into the city.

The total number of overseas children in state care in the city is now at 33.

It’s believed the children, mostly from poor and rural areas of Vietnam, are being trafficked to work in cannabis farms and nail bars.

In recent months, police have raided more than 280 nail bars in Edinbrugh, London and Cardiff which resulted in 97 arrests.

In September last year, a 44-year-old man named Hong Chuong Dang was jailed for trafficking Vietnamese migrants to work at his nail salon in a town outside Edinburgh.

A report released last week by the UK’s anti-slavery commissioner found that traffickers charge between 10,000 to 33,000 pounds to smuggle workers in from Vietnam to Britain.

It also found that rescued children often went missing at high rates, falling into the same cycles of abuse.