Romania’s child traffickers walk free to mock the British police
It is the town that Europe’s biggest human trafficking ring calls home – or so say the British and Romanian police forces who have spent nearly a decade trying to bring them to justice. Garish, multi-storey properties with grand statues and polished gates line the streets of Tandarei in southern Romania, while on the other side of town, horse-drawn carts trundle along roads riddled with potholes.
The Tony Soprano-style properties were allegedly built using UK benefits payments and the spoils from trafficking hundreds of children to British cities, where they were forced into begging and prostitution.
In 2010, Operation Golf – a joint Uk-romania task force overseen by the EU – raided the Tandarei mansions of 26 alleged gang ringleaders and enforcers, then threw them into prison to await trial.
Video footage of those raids shows AK-47S and piles of British bank notes being discovered at the properties – alongside a chair with ankle and wrist straps to torture victims who did not co-operate. But in February, the case
against the so-called Tandarei mafia collapsed, as rumours swirled of payoffs, witness intimidation and corrupt investigators. All 26 suspected traffickers walked free.
Now, The Daily Telegraph has tracked down one of the alleged ringleaders, who in an extraordinary interview dared European police forces to find any evidence that would link him to the brutal trafficking industry. He also mocked the British government for pouring €2million (£1.7million) into what appears to be a failed investigation.
Dressed in a blue overcoat and trilby hat, the alleged ringleader said police had confused him with someone else when they raided his mansion and seized large quantities of gold, cash and weapons.
“We did not kill any child, we did not hurt any child. My police file claims I stole children and then sold them as beggars. Who are these children? I don’t know who they are,” he said.
He does not deny that he kept an assortment of guns in his home, but insisted he had permits for them. As for his alleged role in trafficking, the suspect said he had a large family of sons and nephews who worked in Britain, Spain and Italy, but none had any criminal involvement.
“They have never been in jail, never been fined for anything, they are in school or they are farmers, cleaners, restaurant workers,” he insisted. One of those sons was among the 26 arrested suspects.
Later, when pushed to confirm whether he had any role in trafficking or profited from such crimes in any way, the suspect argued that children put to work begging were not technically being trafficked.
“These children, begging, stealing, whatever they are doing, the point is they are with their family members so they are not being trafficked,” he said.
Again, British officials disputed this account as a large number of the gang’s victims had been sold off by their own parents in Romania and driven by coach to Britain.
According to police records, the alleged trafficker said he “couldn’t remember” if he had travelled to Britain during the past 10 years when asked by Romanian investigators. He also couldn’t recall whether he had left the country at all during this period.
Finally, he grinned as he appeared to mock the costly Eu-led investigation: “The British government gave Romania €2million to find the traffickers. Our cops are stupid, but I think maybe they fooled your more advanced police into paying so much money.”
He is not the only inhabitant in Tandarei to speak in riddles about the town’s infamous links to human trafficking and a mafia-style network spanning several European countries.
Local inhabitants, including the town’s orthodox priest, flatly refuse to discuss the case, while some simply smile when asked why there are so many lavish houses in such a poor region of Romania.
One taxi driver asked us to leave his car, and sped off as soon as the uncomfortable topic was raised.
The collapse of the case has strained Uk-romania relations and raised questions about the effectiveness of Eu-led investigations which share sensitive information with member states vulnerable to corruption.
Though the UK successfully tried and convicted dozens of gang members on their side of the joint investigation, 181 children are still missing and their alleged captors continue to enjoy luxury lifestyles in Tandarei.
Operation Golf was led by Metropolitan Police Superintendent Bernie Gravett, who spent years gathering evidence against the Romanian gang and is now concerned that they may never face justice.
“Let me tell you, there was tonnes of evidence against that gang,” he said.
“Dozens of child witnesses were interviewed, and we found hundreds of forged birth certificates. It beggars belief that all 26 suspects have walked free. On our side, we secured convictions, but Romania has not. There was sufficient evidence for these people to have been convicted in a court in the UK.”
Mr Gravett has now retired and runs the Specialist Policing consultancy in Oxfordshire. He said if he had his time again he would have prosecuted all of the suspects in the UK as this may have prevented the 26 gang members in Tandarei from escaping justice.
He added: “If we cannot get Romanian courts to convict the most serious crimes it has an impact across the whole of Europe.”
A senior Romanian trafficking investigator said: “The police have concluded the investigation and I cannot give further details.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “The Met is aware of developments regarding a case linked to ‘Operation Golf ’ in Romania.
“Although Operation Golf was a joint investigation, this particular case is a Romanian led investigation, and as such it would not be appropriate for us to comment further.”