How Europe's biggest child trafficking gang escaped justice

How Europe's biggest child trafficking gang escaped justice

New homes are being built in Tanderai, allegedly financed by the proceeds of human traffickingNew homes are being built in Tanderai, allegedly financed by the proceeds of human trafficking CREDIT: PETRUT CALINESCU

James Rothwell, tandarei

10 APRIL 2019 • 7:00AM

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It is the town that Europe’s biggest human trafficking ring calls home - or so say 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 potholed roads.

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, a UK-Romania taskforce overseen by the EU, Operation Golf, raided the Tandarei mansions of 26 alleged trafficking ringleaders and enforcers, then threw them in prison to await their trials.

Video footage of those raids shows AK-47s and piles of bank notes being discovered at the properties - alongside a chair with ankle and wrist straps to torture victims who did not cooperate.

But in February, the case against the so-called Tandarei mafia collapsed, while rumours swirled of pay-offs, witness intimidation and corrupt investigators.

Now, the 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 millions of euros 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 automatic weapons.

Cristian Roman says the town has suffered reputational damageCristian Roman says the town has suffered reputational damage CREDIT: PETRUT CALINESCU

“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.

The suspect did not deny that he kept an assortment of guns in his home, but insisted he carried permits for them.

As for his own role in trafficking, the alleged ringleader said he had a large family of sons and nephews who worked in Britain, Spain and Italy, but that 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.

Later, when pushed to confirm whether he had any role in trafficking or profited from the industry in any way, the alleged ringleader 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 ten years when asked by Romanian investigators.

He also couldn’t recall whether had left the country at any point during the same time period.

Finally, the trafficking suspect grinned as appeared to mock the costly EU-led investigation: “The British government gave Romania two million euros 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 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 the Telegraph to leave his car and sped off as soon as the uncomfortable topic was raised.

Cristian Roman, a town hall official in Tandarei, said the town had suffered reputational damage for being linked in media reports to the trafficking gang.

Many people who live in Tandarei are wary of talking to journalistsMany people who live in Tandarei are wary of talking to journalists CREDIT: PETRUT CALINESCU

Asked whether the grandiose houses had ever raised suspicions as to how they were paid for, he said: "If they meet planning permission requirements, they can build them. We do not have to know where the money has come from."

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 leaders on their side of the joint investigation, 181 children are still missing and several of their alleged captors have returned to luxury lifestyles in Tandarei.

Operation Golf was led by Met 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,” said Mr Gravett, who has now retired and runs the Specialist Policing consultancy in Oxfordshire.

He said that 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 trust Romanian courts to convict the most serious crimes it has an impact across the whole of Europe.”

A Romanian police official 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."

Additional reporting by Cristian Stefanescu

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