Trafficked Children in Care After Police Raid on 'fagin Gangs'

Twenty-five people were arrested in dawn raids yesterday as police tried to shut down a gang which trafficked children from Romania and forced them to steal and rob on the streets of London.

Police say that since Romania joined the EU in 2007 there has been a sharp rise in children being brought to London by modern-day "Fagin's gangs". Up to 200 Romanian children have been forced into crime in London and can generate up to £20m a year for the gangs controlling them.

The 10 children taken into care yesterday included one less than a year old. They were all found in overcrowded conditions, with 25 people crammed into a four-bed house. But after medical tests yesterday they were found to be in good health.

Police say intelligence led to them to raid 17 addresses in Slough, Berkshire, from where credit cards, cash and documents linked to fraud were recovered.

Police believed they caught at least two gangs which were involved in non-violent thefts such as pickpocketing, cash point thefts and mobile phone thefts.

The children were used in the City of Westminster, central London, to distract potential crime victims.

Commander Steve Allen, who runs policing in the borough of Westminster, said: "We were dealing with a highly organized criminal network, originating in Romania, transferring children into Britain from there to commit crimes, to generate money which went to the organized criminals."

Allen said that between April and December 2006, 12 Romanian nationals had been arrested for theft. A year later that number was 214. Stolen money is sent back to Romania and gang bosses live in luxury, driving BMW and Mercedes cars, officers said. The police estimate that the Romanian children can each generate up to £100,000 a year for gang leaders.

Allen said: "The family will give a child to a criminal gang on the understanding or promise the child will work and become a source of income for the family. The family will be given a loan by the gang at a high interest rate and left with a large debt."

The children are now to be treated as "vulnerable victims" and Slough council social services will try to find family members they can settle with. Slough's assistant director for children and families, Nicky Rayner, said some youngsters could be reunited with their families in Romania: "There is a legal presumption that if they can be cared for within the family they should be returned."

Two police officers from Romania have been helping UK police and they and officials from Romania's embassy assisted yesterday's raids. The Met, Thames Valley police and British Transport police took part in the operation.