Voodoo killing: 21 held

Raid: police prepare to enter a suspect's house this morning
13 April 2012

A gang of suspected people traffickers were arrested in London today in a dramatic dawn offensive involving more than 200 police officers.

A total of 21 people were detained in the operation launched by detectives investigating the murder of a young boy whose torso was found floating in the River Thames.

Police believe they have smashed a crime network responsible for smuggling African children in to the UK.

Officers swooped on nine addresses in east and south-east London during the early hours.

Most of those detained are Nigerian nationals and they were arrested on suspicion of immigration, people trafficking and passport offences.

They are suspected of bringing in youngsters and adults via Europe - the route they believe was followed by the murder victim, known as Adam, discovered near Tower Bridge in September 2001.

Detective Inspector Will O'Reilly, leading the Adam inquiry, said this morning: "This is the trafficking side of the Adam investigation and it is significant and important to that inquiry as a whole.

"We've uncovered what we believe is a criminal network concentrating on people trafficking, particularly from mainland Africa through Europe to the UK.

"We don't know how many children are involved in this operation but it's certainly in the hundreds, if not the thousands, coming from mainland Africa into the UK."

Commander Andy Baker, of Scotland Yard, said children brought into the UK on false documents are often used to carry out an elaborate benefit fraud, "slave" labour or used in the sex industry.

Many arrive at airports travelling alone and escape the attention of the authorities because they are travelling on British passports which are either stolen or forgeries.

Detectives believe the children are given false identities and are passed around adults claiming to be their parents to make bogus child benefit claims.

Those arrested in today's operation will be DNA tested to see if there is any family link with Adam.

The unknown boy, named by detectives, was aged between four and seven and had been mutilated in what police believe was a ritualistic sacrifice, possibly by the African black magic "muti" cult.

His torso measured just 18 inches by eight inches and was discovered naked apart from a pair of orange shorts which could only be bought in Woolworths stores in Germany.

Detectives used groundbreaking forensic techniques to establish he was from a region of south-west Nigeria between Benin City and Ibadan.

The majority of those arrested today were believed to be from the Benin City area.

Earlier this month, a Nigerian man was interviewed by police in connection with Adam's death.

Sam Onojhighovie, 37, appeared at Dublin's High Court as part of a bid to extradite him to Germany, where he has already been convicted in his absence and sentenced to seven years for offences linked to human trafficking.

Detective Inspector O'Reilly has spoken to Onojhighovie and requested a DNA test, believing he could be the boy's natural father.

He is thought to be the estranged husband of Joyce Osagiede, who was arrested in connection with the murder a year ago in Glasgow.

She was not charged and was later returned to Nigeria.

The inquiry, codenamed Operation Swalcliff, has seen detectives hunting for Adam's true identity and his killers in several countries and an appeal for
help by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

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