from www.torontosun.com – Toronto-area adult clubs say they’re being unfairly targeted by undercover cops who are posing as customers to find out if dancers were smuggled into Canada and are being forced to strip.

The heat turned up following a campaign against human trafficking that was launched Sept. 7 by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews [pictured] and the RCMP, the clubs said.

Members of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada said they’ve been working to clean up the industry and there haven’t been any recent arrests involving strippers who were trafficked or forced to dance.

“Our members are concerned and don’t want undercover officers targeting dancers in their work environment,” association spokesman Tim Lambrinos said. “Everybody in the bar becomes a suspect.”

Association officials said they want to work with police. A hotline — 1-866-311-2322 — has been set up to help dancers in trouble.

“This move is bad for business,” Lambrinos said on Thursday. “Our business will suffer because it is discreet and based on confidentiality.”

“People will stay away from our clubs if they know the police are there,” he said.

“Our members pay a lot of taxes and hire hundreds of employees.” He said club owners don’t want a return of a 1989 police undercover operation called Project Almonzo in which dozens of clubs were raided and more than 350 strippers charged for immigration and other violations.

All the charges were dismissed when the cases went to court.

Peel Regional Police Sgt. Adam Minnion said the force’s morality squad makes the rounds to bars and clubs.

“Victims can be exploited and manipulated,” he said. “Exercising control of a person is a serious crime.”