BALKAN CHILDREN SMUGGLING

A previous post discussed the ongoing sex trade in the Balkans where prostitutes are smuggled by criminal gangs into Italy and Greece to work in the vibrant sex industries. Coupled with the smuggling of prostitutes is another industry, the buying, selling, and smuggling of children. Here are excerpts from the story.

An elderly couple are being questioned by Italian police for allegedly buying an Albanian boy, who had been sold in exchange for a TV set.

The toddler's impoverished parents have admitted to trading the child to an Albanian gang of people smugglers.

The boy, the youngest of five, was taken to Italy where, it is alleged, he was sold to the couple for 5,000 euros.

The case has highlighted the growing problem of illegal people smuggling across Europe by Albanian gangs. [and]

The deal came to light after Italian police smashed the smuggling ring earlier this year, arresting the gang's leader. When news of this arrest became public the boy's mother came forward and to tell police of the boy's plight.

Sadly, the boy was traded for the TV when he was three-years-old and not found until he was seven. It's estimated that the particular smugglers transferred to Italy more than 60 children under the age of 14 in recent years. About 30 are believed to be in the town of Pescara, which faces Albania across the Adriatic Sea. Ten children are known to have been sold to other gangs and forced into prostitution and street begging.

The practice of trafficking children is not isolated to the Balkans. The UK has become aware of the problem of children being taken from West African countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and Jamaica. UNICEF estimates that thousands of children are being trafficked to Britain each year. Human trafficking is considered to be the fastest growing segment of the organized crime business.

Reading of the misery that these children experience just breaks my heart.