ianstone
07-30-2010, 02:34 PM
Romanian gang of Fagins 'smuggled 200 children into UK to beg and steal'
By Dan Newling (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Dan+Newling)
Last updated at 3:34 PM on 30th July 2010
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298957/Gang-smuggled-200-children-Romania-UK-beg-steal-streets.html)
The leaders of a Romanian gipsy gang accused of sending almost 200 children to beg and steal on Britain's streets have been charged with series of crimes in their home country.
Dubbed 'modern day Fagins', the 26 men - all Roma gipsies - face a mixture of charges including trafficking children, money laundering, membership of an organised crime group and possession of illegal firearms.
The men were arrested in April this year when 300 armed Romanian police raided 17 heavily fortified 'gipsy palaces' in the dirt-poor town of Tanderai, a gang-heartland in the south of the country.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/30/article-1298957-0AA0932B000005DC-518_468x286.jpg Raids: Some 300 officers were involved in the police operation across Romania
As well as enormous bundles of cash, police found a fearsome cache of weapons including AK47 machine guns, hunting rifles, knives, pistols, and gas bombs.
Officers also found luxury cars, jewellery plus hundreds of fake British passports and other false documentation used to help them transport children from Romania to Britain.
More...
Rapist freed from Romanian jail attacked women twice within months of entering Britain (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298962/Rapist-freed-Romanian-jail-attacked-women-twice-months-entering-Britain.html)
Today, as the men were officially charged in the Romanian town of Harghita, the prosecutor disclosed that they sent at least 181 children to Britain over the past three years.
Court papers show that the gangmasters showed particular preference for children with physical handicaps as they recruited children from all over Romania.
The children's parents were either coerced into giving up their children - or persuaded to do so with the promise of getting a cut of the childrens' future 'earnings', the court papers explain.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/30/article-1298957-0AA0943E000005DC-249_468x339.jpg Twenty-six men have been charged over smuggling 200 children to the UK to steal and beg
British police estimate that determined and desperate children can make as much as £100,000 a year for their criminal masters from begging on Britain's streets.
Once in the UK, the children were constantly under supervision by at least one gang member.
The children kept none of the money they earned from activities such as begging, washing windscreens, pickpocketting and shoplifting.
Romanian police started investigating the gipsy gang when they were informed by their British counterparts about a Roma gipsy 'crime wave' that started almost as soon as Romania joined the EU.
Romanian child-trafficking expert Norbert Ceipek said: 'The children don’t have any access to education and never get any real chance to fit into normal society.
'But most of the families, and even the children, do not feel they are being victimised.
'What is happening to them is the only thing they’ve known. The whole system of values is turned upside down: a child is appreciated and loved if it earns money by stealing, whereas sending it to school or integrating it into society is seen as a waste of time and money.'
The 26 men, including gang leaders Constantin Radu and Tase Dumitru will face trial in Romania later this year.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298957/Gang-smuggled-200-children-Romania-UK-beg-steal-streets.html#ixzz0vBxjKOkx
By Dan Newling (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Dan+Newling)
Last updated at 3:34 PM on 30th July 2010
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298957/Gang-smuggled-200-children-Romania-UK-beg-steal-streets.html)
The leaders of a Romanian gipsy gang accused of sending almost 200 children to beg and steal on Britain's streets have been charged with series of crimes in their home country.
Dubbed 'modern day Fagins', the 26 men - all Roma gipsies - face a mixture of charges including trafficking children, money laundering, membership of an organised crime group and possession of illegal firearms.
The men were arrested in April this year when 300 armed Romanian police raided 17 heavily fortified 'gipsy palaces' in the dirt-poor town of Tanderai, a gang-heartland in the south of the country.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/30/article-1298957-0AA0932B000005DC-518_468x286.jpg Raids: Some 300 officers were involved in the police operation across Romania
As well as enormous bundles of cash, police found a fearsome cache of weapons including AK47 machine guns, hunting rifles, knives, pistols, and gas bombs.
Officers also found luxury cars, jewellery plus hundreds of fake British passports and other false documentation used to help them transport children from Romania to Britain.
More...
Rapist freed from Romanian jail attacked women twice within months of entering Britain (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298962/Rapist-freed-Romanian-jail-attacked-women-twice-months-entering-Britain.html)
Today, as the men were officially charged in the Romanian town of Harghita, the prosecutor disclosed that they sent at least 181 children to Britain over the past three years.
Court papers show that the gangmasters showed particular preference for children with physical handicaps as they recruited children from all over Romania.
The children's parents were either coerced into giving up their children - or persuaded to do so with the promise of getting a cut of the childrens' future 'earnings', the court papers explain.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/30/article-1298957-0AA0943E000005DC-249_468x339.jpg Twenty-six men have been charged over smuggling 200 children to the UK to steal and beg
British police estimate that determined and desperate children can make as much as £100,000 a year for their criminal masters from begging on Britain's streets.
Once in the UK, the children were constantly under supervision by at least one gang member.
The children kept none of the money they earned from activities such as begging, washing windscreens, pickpocketting and shoplifting.
Romanian police started investigating the gipsy gang when they were informed by their British counterparts about a Roma gipsy 'crime wave' that started almost as soon as Romania joined the EU.
Romanian child-trafficking expert Norbert Ceipek said: 'The children don’t have any access to education and never get any real chance to fit into normal society.
'But most of the families, and even the children, do not feel they are being victimised.
'What is happening to them is the only thing they’ve known. The whole system of values is turned upside down: a child is appreciated and loved if it earns money by stealing, whereas sending it to school or integrating it into society is seen as a waste of time and money.'
The 26 men, including gang leaders Constantin Radu and Tase Dumitru will face trial in Romania later this year.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298957/Gang-smuggled-200-children-Romania-UK-beg-steal-streets.html#ixzz0vBxjKOkx