U.K. police widen search in London slavery case

LONDON -- British police investigating a slavery case involving three female victims say they are investigating 13 London addresses linked to the two suspects.

Police said Monday that inquiries into the new addresses followed an extensive search of an apartment in the Brixton neighborhood of south London.

The Metropolitan Police also said that the male suspect is 73, not 67 as previously reported. The female suspect is 67.

The two suspects are from India and Tanzania. Police have said they shared a political ideology with the three victims.

The disclosure Thursday that a 69-year-old Malaysian, a 57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old Briton were freed after apparently spending 30 years in captivity prompted a flurry of speculation and questions about how such a tragedy escaped notice for so long.

Commander Steve Rodhouse described a "complicated and disturbing picture of emotional control over many years" in the case of the women, declining to say how they wound up in the south London home.

He said investigators are trying to figure out "what were the invisible handcuffs that were used" to exert such control for the 30 years the women were allegedly held captive and subject to physical, mental and emotional abuse.

The arrests were made after the Irish woman phoned a charity last month to say she was being held against her will along with two others. The charity engaged in a series of secretive conversations with the women and contacted police. Two of the women eventually left the house, and police rescued the third.

The two suspects were arrested last week and are free on bail until a court hearing in January.