Drug cartels are forcing vulnerable children from Africa to become foot soldiers for distributing cocaine across Europe.
EU police forces have warned that the gangs are looking to expand Europe’s €11.8 billion cocaine market which in 2022 alone involved the exploitation of around 16,000 children. Many of them have since disappeared.
An exclusive investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian found that the cartels use brutal methods including rape and torture to control their victims.
Police believe that the main exploiter of the children is the umbrella organized crime group known as the Moroccan mafia, which includes several of the largest cocaine trafficking cartels in Europe.
Cooperating directly with cartels in South America, the group is believed to operate out of the Belgian port of Antwerp, the main gateway for cocaine to the continent.
According to The Guardian, “Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France have presented several specific cases of exploitation of hundreds of minors from North Africa, recruited by drug trafficking networks to sell drugs.”
It added that sources indicate London may be next after police found a group of Moroccan and Algerian children showing signs of torture.
Many of the children are trafficked directly from Morocco, with some being lured by social media with promises of a better life.
Eric Garbar, head of human trafficking and smuggling at the Belgian federal judicial police, said: “With African minors, essentially Moroccan and Algerian, the most important area is the exploitation by OCGs [organized crime groups] involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking.
“What we have in the EU is an unstoppable low-cost human resource from Africa.”
An exclusive investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian found that the cartels use brutal methods including rape and torture to control their victims.
Police believe that the main exploiter of the children is the umbrella organized crime group known as the Moroccan mafia, which includes several of the largest cocaine trafficking cartels in Europe.
Cooperating directly with cartels in South America, the group is believed to operate out of the Belgian port of Antwerp, the main gateway for cocaine to the continent.
According to The Guardian, “Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France have presented several specific cases of exploitation of hundreds of minors from North Africa, recruited by drug trafficking networks to sell drugs.”
It added that sources indicate London may be next after police found a group of Moroccan and Algerian children showing signs of torture.
Many of the children are trafficked directly from Morocco, with some being lured by social media with promises of a better life.
Eric Garbar, head of human trafficking and smuggling at the Belgian federal judicial police, said: “With African minors, essentially Moroccan and Algerian, the most important area is the exploitation by OCGs [organized crime groups] involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking.
“What we have in the EU is an unstoppable low-cost human resource from Africa.”
Source: PAP/ The Guardian
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