Parents of 'Fagin's children' in UK

Ten youngsters were taken into care after police raided 17 addresses in Slough, Berkshire last week.

Police believe the children were being held by organised criminal gangs from Eastern Europe and being forced into a life of crime. Officers encountered 68 youngsters in the homes they searched, 10 of whom were taken into police protection.

Scotland Yard said that parents of five of them have either travelled or are in the process of travelling from abroad to be reunited with their children.

Another child has been reunited with parents from elsewhere in the UK while detectives have been unable to locate the parents of two others and have placed them with relatives here. Another youngster was released as it transpired he was 17 years old while the final child has been released into the care of his father.

Of those 10 children police believe four were trafficked to the UK and six were previously known to them, having been brought to their attention as being at risk or in relation to criminal offences.

The dawn raids last Thursday were part of Operation Caddy to disrupt organised criminals involved in child trafficking, theft of personal property, pick-pocketing and cash point theft crime on the streets of Westminster.

Scotland Yard said tourists, business people and commuters fell victim to pick-pocketing gangs, mostly coming from Romania.

They believe poor families had surrendered their children to organised crime networks in exchange for a promised financial reward. The youngsters were then forced in to crime.

Months of planning went into the operation, working closely with the Romanian authorities and other agencies, including the local authority and Thames Valley police. Police officers questioned 25 adults for offences including immigration breaches, deception, fraud and theft following the raids.