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[0] UK (London) and Romania [1] Joint investigation [2] Operation Golf Operation Golf was set up as a direct result of Metropolitan Police Service (MET) investigations finding 200 Romanian Roma children involved in crime across London in 2007. These were identified as part of a larger group of 1107 victims suspected of being trafficked across Europe by one organised criminal network (OCN). Following Romania’s accession to the EU the Romanian National Police investigated the trafficking of Roma children into forced criminality across Europe. From 2006/7 they identified 1107 children had been trafficked from Tandarei in southeast Romania into Western Europe. The OCN operated mainly in the UK, France, Spain and Italy. Children were trafficked mainly to beg and steal in various European countries. The need for joint police work between the UK and Romania led to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) being set up on September 1 2008. This gave a co-ordinated and focused approach between the police forces of both countries to disrupt the criminal activities of the Romanian gang, arrest the offenders and rescue the victims. The MET assisted the Romanian National Police in arresting and prosecuting 26 suspects of the criminal gang by providing evidence of offences in 41 police force areas and the circumstances around the forced criminality of identified children. 181 trafficked children were identified as a result. Up to December 2010 police investigations in the UK led to the arrest of 146 suspects charged for a variety of crimes including human trafficking into the UK; trafficking within the UK; money laundering; benefit fraud, child neglect; perverting the course of justice; theft and handling stolen goods. Over 80 people to date have been convicted in the UK and one case if undetected could have seen a loss of £12.6 million through fraud. As part of Operation Golf, the launch of Operation Norman on 12 October 2010 on 16 premises safeguarded 41 children and arrested 8 adults. The operation was jointly planned with Redbridge Council and the local health trust. After being assessed for risk of harm and welfare needs, 40 children were returned to their families and one girl was placed temporarily with foster carers. Local authority children’s services support will assist any of the children should an assessment require this. [4] 1 Sept 2008 – 31 Dec 2010 [5] 0.5million Euros (2010) [3] 
Romanian National Police
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