KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of young children illegally trafficked into the UK are the new victims of Britain's booming cannabis trade.
Figures obtained by the Independent on Sunday reveal that, as organised criminals push cannabis production to record levels, at least one child a week is being found by police raiding cannabis factories.
Experts warn that children as young as 13 are being smuggled from Southeast Asia to work as "slaves" for gangs in dangerous conditions, being kept captive in towns and suburbs across Britain.
They believe there has been a five-fold increase in the trade in the past 12 months.
Police believe organised crime gangs, largely Vietnamese, have moved quickly to dominate Britain's cannabis market after declassification in 2004 increased the potential rewards of growing and selling the drug and decreased the risks of punishment.
Gangs can reap up to £300,000 ($817,570) profit a year from a three-bedroom house converted into a cannabis factory.
Children are brought in by gangs to tend the plants. Many have been found unable to escape through doors or windows sealed and wired to give off dangerous electric shocks. Others fear reprisals against relatives if they try to escape.
Police are raiding up to three houses a day where children are being discovered.
"There is clear evidence that there are young people who are trafficked, bought and sold, for the purpose of forced labour in cannabis production in the UK," said Christine Beddoe, director of the campaign group End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (Ecpat).
"In the past 12 months there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of cases being reported to us. We now get told about one young person every week being removed from a cannabis factory. But nobody knows the true scale of the problem."
Simon Byrne, Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police and cannabis spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said colleagues call cannabis "the cash machine of organised crime".
Once in Britain, children are forced to work as "gardeners", watering and tending the plants, and have to sleep in lofts or cupboards. Neighbours are often unaware of their existence. Even after they are discovered by police, their ordeal isn't over.
Beddoe said many Vietnamese children go missing from care within 48 hours of being removed from cannabis houses and no one knows what happens to them.
"Local authorities are struggling to keep these kids safe, and it doesn't help that agencies are not sharing information."
Tuan Nguyen, a young Vietnamese boy, was discovered in Manchester in June. After being placed in an authority care home, he is now missing and it is feared he has been snatched back by the gang that brought him to the UK.
Paul Woltman from children's services, defended the authority's conduct of the boy's care.
"We wanted to look after him in an environment which was reasonably normal as well as secure, but at the same time recognised his right to some freedom."
Experts are also critical of the justice system's treatment of these children. Some are seen as victims and taken into care, but many more face prosecution and jail.
- Independent
