SOLDIER James McGhie told today how he battled against gangs trafficking young women in Kosovo.

He was in the front line trying to stop criminals smuggling victims across the Serbian border to be sold on as prostitutes in western Europe.

Corporal McGhie, 37, of Charlton Down, said the young women were lured west with promises of well-paid jobs only to be held captive with their passports withheld, beaten, raped and forced to work the streets in London.

He said: "It was mainly women from countries in the eastern bloc. They would earn £5 a month and then be promised jobs paying £500 a month.

"Then they would be sold down the line and end up having to work as prostitutes in such places as London.

"Someone would get 10 women, sell them to someone in Serbia and then they would contact someone in Kosovo or Bosnia and the women would be sold on."

He added: "When they were away the women would start getting threatened, beaten up and raped. One woman was found in Pristina with her throat cut. It was big money business."

Cpl McGhie, who is in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, was part of a 70- strong squadron on the Kosovo and Serbia border watching for people traffickers and their victims while on a three-month posting in the Balkans.

He was trained by the United Nations to watch for warning signs, such as groups of women in a bus with one person holding their passports or doing all the talking.

Cpl McGhie, who began his career in the Junior Leaders at Bovington in 1983 and is now Provost at the army camp, told how his squad once rescued three women from the clutches of the traffickers.

He said: "The women were very worried when they first came in for questioning, but were happier when it was explained to them what would have happened to them."

He added: "Even as small cogs in the machinery it was a great feeling for us to have got at the traffickers."

Now Cpl McGhie will speak about his experiences to members of the newly formed Charlton Down Women's Institute (WI) at a meeting on October 6 in the Watts Room, at Herrison Hall, at 10.30am.

The talk will tie in with the national WI's national campaign to raise awareness about the issue and to urge the government to crackdown on it.

Margaret Bax, from the Charlton Down WI, said visitors and new members were welcome at the meeting.

She added: "We as a group wanted to be concerned with not just looking at local issues but national ones as well.

"We are part of a wider world movement concerned with the affairs of women in general and this is important to us as well as establishing a good network locally."