Police Scotland will recruit officers from Romania in a bid to help women trafficked for sex work.

The force has secured funding from the Home Office and the Romanian Embassy in London to second two Romanian officers for six months, beginning on January 8.

It comes after a major investigation into Romanian women being exploited in the UK unearthed a lucrative sex-for-hire flat operating in Motherwell.

We reported in November that a Romanian trio are currently behind bars for their involvement and are due to be sentenced in the New Year.

READ MORE Gang SNARED for their involvement in busy sex for sale flat

In an update to the Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland said: "Under-reporting of trafficking and sexual exploitation for prostitution of Romanian females is a particular problem encountered in Scotland resulting in a high number of potentially vulnerable females not engaging with Police and other authorities."

Officers hope the secondment will make Romanian nationals feel more comfortable coming forward and reporting incidents of trafficking.

The deal to bring the officers to Scotland was secured following a visit by Romanian diplomats to the Police Scotland crime campus in Lanarkshire in September.

Recruitment for the two officers is now underway in Romania.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland, added: "This secondment aims to increase reports of trafficking of Romanian Nationals and provide culturally sensitive information on rights and exploitation to encourage reporting when victims are at a stage in their journey to survivorship to come forward to report exploitation."