10,000 kids missing in EU as criminals ‘exploit’ migrant flow

Human traffickers are taking advantage of Europe’s refugee crisis to find sex and labor slaves, particularly children, Europol says. The EU police’s chief of staff told the Observer that some 10,000 minors have gone missing since crossing into the EU.

Thousands of underage refugees have reportedly disappeared since registering with authorities, Europol’s chief of staff, Brian Donald, told The Observer.

At least 5,000 children have gone missing in Italy alone, Donald said, adding that another 1,000 have vanished in Sweden.

Donald stressed that an EU-wide “criminal infrastructure” could be specially targeting refugee children.

“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children. Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have been passed on to family members. We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with.”

Moreover, there is already evidence of sexual exploitation, especially in Germany and Hungary. “An entire [criminal] infrastructure has developed over the past 18 months around exploiting the migrant flow. There are prisons in Germany and Hungary where the vast majority of people arrested and placed there are in relation to criminal activity surrounding the migrant crisis,” said Donald.  (more...)

10,000 kids missing in EU as criminals ‘exploit’ migrant flow