Vietnamese children smuggled from Jungle to Britain to work as cannabis farm slaves
DOZENS of children from Vietnam are being brought to Britain as slaves after being hidden in the Jungle camp at Calais, charity workers say.
The NSPCC warned a secret population of children is being kept out of sight of the authorities in parts of the camp before being moved across the Channel to work in cannabis farms.
After carrying out their first inspection of the settlement, NSPCC workers have raised concerns about how criminal gangs are using it as a final stop-over for children bound for Britain.
Young people from a range of nationalities are being transported sometimes thousands of miles across land and sea and often are subjected to horrifying physical and sexual abuse, according to investigators.
The NSPCC is concerned that once in the UK, these children become victims of abuse that includes sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, labour exploitation, forced marriage and criminal activities.
The charity also has concerns that the hundreds of unaccompanied children as young as nine living in the camp are vulnerable to being taken by traffickers.
The NSPCC’s Child Trafficking Advisory Centre (CTAC) believes Vietnamese children are particularly prevalent in the camp. Vietnamese gangs have historically dominated the UK’s domestically grown cannabis market, rising from around 15 per cent in 2005 to 90 per cent last year.
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: ‘We are facing a difficult and dangerous situation where children are being brought to Calais by crime gangs on what is the final leg of a horrendous journey.
‘They are then being held and sometimes hidden in the encampment while the criminals wait for an opportunity to move them into the UK where they can be abused and exploited.
‘At the same time, you have other criminals roaming the camps seeking out children who have travelled to the French border with family, friends and sometimes even alone that are vulnerable to human trafficking.
‘Both groups need to be quickly identified and processes put in place that will take them out of the hands of people who seek to make profit from young people’s misery.’
The NSPCC is currently investigating the cases of 72 children who have gone missing from the camp.
In May, the Government promised to step up its efforts to help child migrants following pressure from campaigners and the Daily Mail to give sanctuary to unaccompanied children in squalid Euro- pean refugee camps. Yesterday the Information Commissioner ordered the Home Office to respond to a request for the number of lone child refugees who have been reunited with family in the UK.
Just 40 unaccompanied child refugees are known to have made it to the UK from Calais under the EU’s Dublin asylum system, despite estimates that at least 200 have family reunion rights in the UK.
A Home Office source said: ‘We will respond to the request as soon as possible ... Over 120 cases of unaccompanied children have been accepted for transfer to the UK under the Dublin Regulation since the start of the year.’
Record numbers of EU citizens were given permanent residence in Britain in the run-up to the referendum. A total of 7,307 documents were granted – a four-fold increase on the equivalent period last year. Meanwhile, the number of EU nationals receiving residence certificates confirming they were allowed to live in Britain under free movement rules – although not permanently – also soared from 3,310 to 7,944, or 140 per cent.