Exploited minor released by National Police in Santander

AFTER being asked for assistance by the Romanian authorities officers secured the release of a young girl forced into theft.

According to reports received from Romania, police there were investigating a large family allegedly involved in people trafficking and prostitution and it was believed that a 17-year-old girl had been forced to travel to Spain.

The girl was thought to have been first offered as a ‘gypsy bride’ before possibly being forced into prostitution as well as minor theft and scavenging for scrap metal.

A specialist trafficking division of the National Police tracked down a Romanian family in Santander which was involved in scrap collection and discovered that the girl in question was living with them and was certainly occupied in obtaining scrap and minor theft.

Officers swooped on the family, arresting a married couple and one of their children and released the girl into council care prior to her return to her family in Romania.