Questions were again asked last night about the motives of last week's raid on a Midlands massage parlour after human rights campaigners said six of the women 'rescued' are set to be deported.

The fate of the six women detained at Cuddles massage parlour on the Hagley Road, in Bearwood, Sandwell, last Thursday, was still unclear last night, however they were in the hands of immigration officials at Yarlswood detention centre in Bedfordshire.

It was thought the women, mainly Eastern European, would have been deported yesterday. But last minute pressure from lawyers and human rights campaigners forced immigration officials to defer, which The Birmingham Post understands would not take place until at least tomorrow.

West Midlands Police officers involved in last week's raid claimed it followed intelligence-gathering which indicated the women were victims of human trafficking. However, all 19 women have denied they were victims of trafficking, and 13 have leave to stay and are no longer in custody.

The other six are being detained by the Immigration Service on the grounds they are not victims of trafficking but were in the country illegally. Sarah Green, from Amnesty International, said their status leaves them no rights in British law.

Her comments follow concerns raised by a prostitutes campaign group in The Post last week police were more interested in fulfilling Home Office immigration quotas than alleviating the suffering of 'sex slaves'.

Ms Green said: "The police undoubtedly designed this story as antitrafficking. But if that is the case why are these women with the immigration service because it has nothing at all to do with trafficking. As these women are now out of the hands of police, they have no status in law because they are classed as purely illegal immigrants.

"But if the police who carried out this operation knew, they should have also known they would have had to hand the women to the immigration service as soon as they were questioned. I have never known the women being considered for deportation so soon after they were detained."

The 19 women came from countries including Albania, Kosovo and Latvia. A Home Office spokesman said: "Where a person has been a victim of trafficking it is recognised these individuals who have experienced exploitation may initially need time and support to recover and reflect. The Immigration Service will not pursue the repatriation of an individual in this initial period."

The spokesman said this did not mean the Immigration Service will not pursue the future removal of individuals.

Three people arrested in the raid appeared before Warley magistrates charged in connection with the management of a brothel. They are due back in court tomorrow.