GREECE: Greek police arrest Roma couple after finding young blonde child in their care

Record ID: 174075

  • Title: GREECE: Greek police arrest Roma couple after finding young blonde child in their care
  • Date: 18th October 2013
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (OCTOBER 18 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF "SMILE OF THE CHILD" CHILD WELFARE CHARITY ORGANIZATION 'SMILE OF THE CHILD' LOGO VARIOUS OF 'SMILE OF THE CHILD' ORGANIZATION PRESIDENT KOSTAS YANNOPOULOS SPEAKING WITH HIS STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) SMILE OF THE CHILD PRESIDENT, KOSTAS YANNOPOULOS, SAYING: "She is confused somehow. She was living in a very bad environment and then suddenly she was moved from that environment and she was shocked. And as soon as she went with our social worker, she started crying until she went to sleep." YANNOPOULOS SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) SMILE OF THE CHILD PRESIDENT, KOSTAS YANNOPOULOS, SAYING: "It could be both -- it shows that it could be kidnapping and combined effort of these people to buy and sell children, and when you have a good commodity like this one, they try to find a better price, because they were using also this little girl in the streets of Larissa to beg because she was blonde, she was cute." YANNOPOULOS SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) SMILE OF THE CHILD PRESIDENT, KOSTAS YANNOPOULOS, SAYING: "I am asking people in Europe, or wherever, in the world, if they have information, in countries that the 11600 is working, they can call that number."
  • Embargoed: 2nd November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: People
  • Reuters ID: LVACPO54UCK3J5G59RKAL4XB8IOV
  • Story Text: Police in central Greece said on Friday (October 18) a Roma couple have been arrested after officers found a young, blonde, green-eyed girl in their care, which DNA tests showed that she was not related to the couple.
    Police said they discovered the girl, approximately five to six years old, during a police operation in a Roma settlement in Farsala town in the prefecture of Larissa on Wednesday (October 16). The girl was living with a Roma couple, whose characteristics did not match that of the parents.
    During questioning the couple gave conflicting accounts to the police about the child, which sparked their suspicions. DNA testing later showed no genetic computability with the couple.
    "There was no resemblance at all to the supposed parents," said the provincial police director Vassilis Halatsis during a news conference on the case.
    "During questioning that took place about this girl, they gave conflicting answers. The constantly changing claims of the supposed parents consolidated our beliefs that these were not the biological parents of the child," he added.
    A police statement said that during the investigation it emerged that the child was taken in 2009 from its biological parents under unknown circumstances.
    The Roma couple have both been arrested for abduction of a minor and fraudulent misappropriation of a false certificate, the statement said.
    "Until now, it looks that the child was abducted or taken in 2009 under unknown circumstances," said Halatsis.
    He added that police have contacted Interpol and police organizations internationally about the child.
    The girl has been taken to a hospital for a medical check and will then be transferred to a home of the child welfare charity organization, "Smile of the Child".
    President of "Smile of the Child", Kostas Yannopoulos, said the girl was in a state of shock and confusion.
    "She is confused somehow. She was living in a very bad environment and then suddenly she was moved from that environment and she was shocked. And as soon as she went with our social worker she started crying until she went to sleep," said Yannopoulos.
    He said this could be a case of child kidnapping or smuggling involving various countries, and his organization has posted a photograph of the child on its website with a telephone hotline to call.
    "It could be both -- it shows that it could be kidnapping and combined effort of these people to buy and sell children, and when you have a good commodity like this one, they try to find a better price, because they were using also this little girl in the streets of Larissa to beg, because she was blonde, she was cute," explained Yannopoulos.
    "I am asking people in Europe, or wherever, in the world, if they have information, in countries that the 11600 is working, they can call that number," he said, referring to the hotline.
    He said the organization had already started receiving query e-mails about the child from people abroad on Friday, without giving details.
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