U.N. Fears Gangs May Traffick in Tsunami Children

Who would think that this story could get worse? There are stories about bogus charities and websites, but kidnapping of children for the purpose of trafficking takes the cake.
Apparently children are taken from hospitals and are put on planes without papers and with fewer questions asked. With dead and missing parents, children are prime targets for criminals.

All sorts of crimes against women and children have been reported.

Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, managing director of the charity, told a news conference: "The experience from other catastrophes is that children are particularly vulnerable." There were already indications that surviving children had been sexually abused in Sri Lanka, Ms Gornitzka said.
Officials in Indonesia said they had launched an investigation into the unconfirmed reports of trafficking in orphaned children from the disaster.
A women's group in Sri Lanka also claimed that rapists were preying on homeless survivors.

"We have received reports of incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation and physical abuse of women and girls in the course of unsupervised rescue operations and while resident in temporary shelters," the Women and Media Collective group said.
Sweden has kept the names of tsunami victims secret after some homes were targeted by thieves.

It is possible that these children will never be seen again. The kidnapped children are offered for sale. Imagine the plight of these poor children that have fallen into the hands of pedophiles, pimps, and other criminals. It is even possible that they could be sold into private adoptions.

Although there is no shortage of sex crimes against children in the West, this part of the world is notorious for using children in the sex industry. Allegedly young children from this part of the world are routinely “sent on” to the sex industry in Europe and the United States, a concern of George W. Bush.

In stark contrast to help offered by the world community, criminal gangs have been committing crimes from robber to possible piracy.

In Thailand thieves disguised as police and rescue workers have looted luggage and hotel safes around Khao Lak beach, where the tsunami killed up to 3,000 people. Sweden sent seven police officers there on Monday to investigate the reported kidnap of a Swedish boy of 12 whose parents were carried off by the wave.

The United Nations also warned of the danger of pirates hindering its relief efforts off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, which took the brunt of the tsunami.

Robberies of funds collected for tsunami victims are occurring in Britain where a hoaxer has been calling families of their missing relatives. The homes of missing Swedes are being broken into and Norwegian police are on the alert for criminals that are attempting to get victims’ names for the purpose of obtaining a new identity or insurance fraud or to escape debt.

Sadly it appears that the criminal mind is plumbing new depths or perhaps reverting to long-forgotten patterns of crimes against victims of war and natural disasters.