ALL of the children who were taken into care earlier this week after an investigation into child trafficking in Manchester have been returned to their families.
On Monday, police carried out early-morning raids in the Agnes Street area of Gorton and Stockport Road in Longsight.
Fifteen children from the Roma community were taken into temporary care as police and other agencies tried to establish who they were. Six adults were arrested on suspicion of child trafficking.
The aim of the operation was to identify children who have been illegally brought to Manchester by Roma organised crime groups for financial exploitation and to prosecute and disrupt the gangsters involved.
Two men and four women, aged between 23 and 32, who were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking have all been released without charge.
The children who were at the addresses that were temporarily cared for by Manchester council children's services have also been returned to their families.
Happy and thankful
Maria Mihai, 32, was one of the Roma women arrested in the police raid. The mother of five speaking through a translator told the M.E.N.: “The police came and rang my doorbell and arrested me. I am not trying to make a problem in Manchester. The reports about us were wrong. I’m so happy and thankful to be back with my children.”
Ion Dumitru, 27, a spokesman for the Roma community said: “We are not dangerous like the news said. The Romanian news has been saying we are thieves and beggars but we are not. It’s great that everyone who was arrested is back with their families. The children are all back home safe.”
Superintendent Paul Savill, who led the operation, said: "We had a duty to take action because we had intelligence that children living in the Roma community may have been trafficked into Greater Manchester. We had to see if there was a problem and ensure the children were not being exploited.
"Working with Manchester City Council, we have carried out a thorough investigation and we are satisfied there is no evidence of exploitation or criminality, so we have released all those arrested without charge and the children have been returned to their families.
"I would like to praise all those involved for their co-operation as we carried out our investigation.
Welfare
"Our primary aim was to safeguard the welfare of these children and we have tried to carry out all inquiries as quickly as possible to minimise disruption both to the children, their parents and the Roma community.
"I would again like to stress this operation was not about stigmatising the Roma who are settled in our community. We are working very hard, along with our all partners, to help them settle here and we will continue to give them as much support as possible to adjust to a new life in Manchester."
The operation mirrors a similar probe by the Metropolitan Police last year. There ten children were taken into care after raids on Roma homes in Slough. All but one of the children were returned to their families.
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Guten Tag, Manchester (26/11/2009 at 11:43)
dessie, manchester (26/11/2009 at 12:41)
smurth (26/11/2009 at 20:07)
The foreigner (28/11/2009 at 03:37)
There is nothing in this report to indicate indolence or criminality for these people and where I agree that Britain does not want hordes of 'refugees' having to be supported by the taxpayer, you seem to have missed the point.
Police made arrests and 'confiscated' children. Why? Probably because the law gives them leeway to do so on the basis of 'suspicion'.
Why didn't police make their enquiries without arrests? And I'm not going to accept that these enquiries required custody.
Had the situation been reversed and it was you, in exactly the same circumstance, who had been arrested in an eastern european country, would you be satisfied that their locals were more interested in denigrating you rather than acting against ethical (if not legal) malfeasance by police?
The majority voted for labour. You got what you deserved. Now, it appears, the majority will vote for the conservatives - and you think anything will change?
Maybe you should start voting for a party that supports England for the English, that stops playing around with yobs, thieves and drunkards.
A party that instills not only respect for the law but a FEAR of the consequences of law. That goes a long way to concentrate the mind before a crime is committed.
But for this to happen you need a judiciary that works and a police force which is scrupulously fair, efficient and knowledgable. Not something you have at the moment.
Take another look at the comment by Superintendent Paul Savill, where he says: "We had a duty to take action because we had intelligence that children living in the Roma community may have been trafficked into Greater Manchester. We had to see if there was a problem and ensure the children were not being exploited. ...
I would again like to stress this operation was not about stigmatising the Roma who are settled in our community. We are working very hard, along with our all partners, to help them settle here and we will continue to give them as much support as possible to adjust to a new life in Manchester."
The 'intelligence' that police received was obviously as useful as a condom with a hole in it. This comment is a pathetic, lame apology couched as an excuse/reason. And you want to be (and are) controlled by this type of policing? Hmmm, not that dissimilar to third-world methods.
You want change? Then you are going to have to do a little more than writing to a newspaper website expressing disgust. Especially when that disgust is for the peripheral issues, not the core issue.
sugar n spice, manchester (30/11/2009 at 00:22)