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Revealed: Scandal of the teenage sex slaves Albanian criminals in Britain are trading girls as sex slaves for the price of a second-hand car. Keith Dovkants investigates. The face of modern sex slavery is deceptively decorous. Behind a darkened doorway visitors are handed a playing card � the Jack of Hearts � which, in a quaint and almost courtly ritual, is presented without comment to the girl of choice. There is nothing to suggest that the girl is anything but a willing player in the encounter that follows. But, again, this may be a deception. This brothel in Camden Town in north London has made use of young women caught up in a crime phenomenon that shames us. It may seem incredible that, in the great city where Hull's William Wilberforce campaigned � in the democracy that led the world in outlawing slavery � human beings are traded now for the price of a second-hand car. At its heart are Albanians who have exploited the tragic misery of their own people to gain sanctuary in Britain. They have created an entire underworld regime, financed by the rich pickings of prostitution, and their vice network is spreading fast. It began with the Kosovo emergency in 1999 when thousands of Kosovar Albanians poured into Britain seeking asylum. Among them were Albanians who masqueraded as victims to gain entry. Pre-eminent among them were men from the clans based in the northern cities of Tropoja and Shkodra � areas of Albania where banditry has flourished for centuries. These men formed a nexus of pimps, traffickers and enforcers. Principal among them is a former Albanian policeman who has been granted asylum here and who lives in east London. His name cannot be revealed for legal reasons but he is known widely in ethnic Albanian circles as a wealthy and powerful figure. This man, Bledi � not his real name � has contacts across Europe reaching into the ranks of the Mafia groups that control crime in the former Soviet countries, including Russia. Through these contacts, Bledi purchases women. They may come from the impoverished cities of Russia, the Baltic states, Romania, Moldova or the Balkans. Often, they have simply been kidnapped. Children's charity Terre des Hommes says that more than 6,000 minors aged between 12 and 16 are smuggled out of eastern Europe to work as prostitutes, drug traffickers and beggars every year. Barbara Limanowska, author of a Unicef report on the trafficking of women and children, says at least 10 to 30 per cent of all eastern European sex workers are minors. It is thought that up to 80 per cent of victims from Albania are girls under 18. While a number of European countries have made considerable strides in their attempts to tackle the problem, she said, Britain has been slow to act. Elena's story is shocking, not least for the way it ends. She was a pretty 12-year-old schoolgirl in the south-west Romanian town of Targa Jiu � a dismal former mining town with a collapsed local economy. Her mother left home and her father, a chronic alcoholic, did his best to bring up Elena and her elder brother, But the father died suddenly, leaving the children alone. They were destitute and the boy fell in with criminals who put him in touch with the Mafia. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/scripts/editorial2.cgi?cid=39&aid=473250 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://TOPICA.COM/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
