Scandal of Britain’s Romanian gangsters

GANGS of Romanians are behind a £1billion crime wave sweeping Britain, police revealed yesterday.

SCANDAL Crime by migrants soars 530 per cent SCANDAL: Crime by migrants soars 530 per cent

Since Romania joined the European Union a year ago, the number of crimes committed here by that country’s nationals has risen by 530 per cent.

They include at least three murders in London last year. The gangs use children smuggled illegally into Britain as beggars or pickpockets, like the Charles Dickens character Fagin in Oliver Twist.

Ten of the child slaves were freed yesterday in raids on homes in the Berkshire town of Slough, which one gang was using as a base for its operations in London’s West End.

Police estimate that each child is worth £100,000 a year to the gangs, and the Romanian authorities believe that up to 2,000 children have been smuggled into Britain.

The gang bosses channel millions of pounds back to Romania, where the money is used to build luxury houses and buy expensive cars.

A police source said: “These people are driving BMWs and Mercedes and carrying weapons. They are highly organised criminals.”

Four police officers from Romania were involved in yesterday’s operation, which was coordinated by detectives from Westminster CID.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the majority of offences were taking place in the West End, where tourists, business people and commuters were being targeted.

He said gang members were also involved in sophisticated cashpoint crime known as skimming and bank card cloning.

One of the children freed yesterday is a baby less than a year old who is thought to have been used as a “prop” for begging.

The others range in age up to 17 and are believed to have been forced into a life of crime against their will.

The children are thought most likely to have been taken from, or sold by, their poverty-stricken families in rural Romania and trafficked to the UK.

In dramatic dawn raids, hundreds of officers swooped on a string of houses in the Chalvey area of Slough.

The operation, codenamed Caddy, is the first in a series planned following a four-year investigation.

Officers wearing protective uniform and supported by police dogs raided the homes in the run-down area.

At one terrace house, riot squad officers used a sledgehammer to break down the door and burst in shouting: “Police, police, police!”

They had been warned that the suspects could be armed with knives or lumps of wood, which they carry to protect themselves from rival gangs.

In one of the raids, six children held in adjoining three-bedroom houses were freed.

Apart from the children, officers also found large sums of money and credit cards.

At least 25 people were arrested for offences including breaches of immigration law, deception, fraud and theft.

The raids brought to light the full extent of the Romanian crime wave in Britain.

Before the eastern European country joined the EU, its nationals were associated with 146 crimes over six months in Britain.

A year after it joined – over a second six-month period – that figure leapt to 922, a 530 per cent rise.

Police believe that about 70 gangsters are involved in the trafficking of children.

Commander Steve Allen, head of policing in Westminster, said: “With promises of a financial return, some poor families surrender their children who are forced to commit crime.

“This operation began four years ago when we identified an increase in pickpocketing in Westminster.

“We are confronting organised crime networks that traffic and exploit children to commit crime and channel the proceeds out of the UK. Today’s operation is about dismantling these crime networks to protect and rescue these children.”

Last night the rescued children were in the care of social services. Ruth Bagley, chief executive of Slough Borough Council, said: “The council’s role is primarily about the protection of children.”

Police are investigating whether they were illegally trafficked to the UK.

MigrationWatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said: “This is further evidence that there is no check and cannot be any check on the criminal past of migrants from eastern Europe. The police are right to crack down on this widespread criminal activity.”

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