The network operates in several European countries and consists of the purchase of children to force them to be begged, sexually exploit or do housework. Only Portugal and Romania have open inquiries.
A police investigation revealed the existence of a Child Trafficking Network that operated in Portugal and other European countries, with the minors to be sold to be begged and other forms of slavery. The discovery gained a new breath after the location of a teenager in Georgia, who had disappeared from Portugal five years ago.
Children, many of Romanian origin, were sold by their own family members for derisive values, reaching only 100 euros. Once in the hands of the criminal network, they were distributed to various cities in Europe, including Portugal, where they were forced to be soaked in strategic locations such as hospitals, churches and tourist zones. Some of the victims used fake signs claiming to be deaf-mudders to sensitize passers-by.
Among the victims was a 15 -year -old Romanian, found in Viseu in the same year. Pregnant, he was taken to the Julius Dinis maternity hospital, but was taken from the hospital before giving birth to two women linked to the trafficking network. Six years later, It was located in Georgiabut it is not known where the baby is.
The National Coordinator of Assistance Assistance Assistance Responses to the Association for Family Planning (APF), Marta Pereira, explains that Portugal is simultaneously a destination, a traffic point and also of origin of victims, including Portuguese minors taken for exploitation abroad.
“The cases that we have signaled begging are from foreign children, but we have children victims of trafficking to work exploration, sexual, domestic servitudesales situations to use subsidies, babies for illegal adoptions… there is everything, ”he explains to.
Girls were often guarded and had the documents confiscated by their explorers. In some cases, violations resulted in early pregnancy, whose Babies could be sold for illegal adoptions.
Research difficulties increase due to constant renewal of victims and the indoctrination they receive. Many do not know which country they are and even provide false identities trained by traffickers.
The scheme was highly lucrative for criminals. The network displayed ostentiously the gains on social networks and transferred at least half a million euros for bank accounts in Romania.
The police operation began in 2019, when the authorities realized that the same children were always in the same places and were collected by the same people at the end of the day. The Public Security Police (PSP) identified about thirty teenagers trafficked by this criminal network.
Despite the magnitude of the problem, only two inquiries are underway: one in Portugal and one in Romania. The prosecution will be formalized soon, covering nine defendantsall in freedom and outside Portugal. Its extradition depends on European detention warrants.
