25-07-2016 07:00
Anti-mafia police have broken up a Romanian human trafficking gang, which forced dozens of kidnapped victims, including children, into beggary and slavery.
Authorities rescued five people from a village in central Romania and arrested 29 suspects thought to be part of the ring. A hunt is being conducted around the site, which is just 170 kilometres northwest of Bucharest. It's thought that there are more crime ring members at loose and as many as 40 victims overall.
The director for fighting organised crime and terrorism said some of the victims had been kidnapped from around public places such as railway stations since 2008 and had been fed only scraps of food by their masters. There's also suspicion that some of the victims were raped but that has not been verified. No other details about the victims or their whereabouts have been disclosed.
Difficult words: trafficking (when people illegally trade or sell something), ring (a group of people who work together for one goal), conduct (do), at loose (free), scraps (small pieces), suspicion (feeling that somebody probably did something bad), verify (prove), whereabouts (the location of someone), disclose (tell to people).