Eight arrested in Brčko child trafficking probe

Police in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina have arrested more suspects in a potential child trafficking case after 31 children were found living in a home with one caretaker on Tuesday. 

Five more people have been arrested since the investigation began, bringing the total to eight people suspected of child trafficking and child abuse.

The children are all members of the Roma ethnic minority and range in age from 12 years to infancy. Six of them have Croatian documents.

The children were found when one of them, a 12-year-old girl, left the home and asked for help from a stranger.

Croatian police are working with police in Brčko. Interpol is now also involved in the investigation. The parents of some of the Croatian children have been arrested, confirmed Interior Minister Davor Božinović.

"Among the children are six who are Croatian citizens. Arrests started yesterday. Eight people have been arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I can also confirm that among the six Croatian children are those whose parents have been arrested,” said Božinović.

Božinović added that the investigation is complicated by the nomadic profile of the group, members of which may have multiple citizenship or live in a country other than that of their origin.

Suzana Krčma, the head of the Roma community organization The Croatian Roma Union, said her community was shocked by the case.

"I am confident the institutions will do their job and that the perpetrators will be punished appropriately,” Krčma said.

The children are in the care of social services. Some have been taken to hospital for medical checkups.