Children ‘being forced to tend cannabis’

Children are being forced to tend cannabis factories and commit street crimes, a leading charity has warned as it raised the alarm over the hidden toll of child slavery in the UK.

The NSPCC said youngsters around the country also face sexual exploitation and punishing physical labour.

A team set up by the organisation ten years ago to provide advice in child trafficking cases has received nearly 2,000 referrals, with babies among those reported as potential victims.

Thenspccsaidthesecretive nature of modern-day slavery means this number is likely to be a fraction of the true scale of the problem.

Exploitation for sex or labour and domestic servitude were among the main concerns flagged up in referrals to the NSPCC’S Child Trafficking Advice Centre.

Children being used for criminal exploitation such as cultivating cannabis or committing street crimes were among the other reasons for reports, according to the charity.

It said Vietnamese children made up a fifth of all those referred to the centre since it was set up, with Romanians, Nigerians and Afghans among other nationalities flagged to the service.