European sex traffickers use Ukraine war chaos to hunt for children
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European traffickers are exploiting the Ukraine war to target children, and some suspects have managed to escape accountability because of authorities' short-sightedness.
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Children walk in Bucha on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, on April 8, 2022. (AP)
Tim Ballard, founder and former CEO of the anti-sex trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, told RIA Novosti that European sex traffickers exploited the chaos of the Ukraine war to target children.
He also claimed that authorities in some European countries nearly enabled them to evade prosecution.
"I had an experience in 2022 when the [Ukraine] war broke out ... a lot of orphans were being abandoned in Ukraine in the turmoil. We went over in 2022, when the war began, to move the kids out, but we were on the hunt for traffickers. Traffickers come in when there is a catastrophe like a war ... We got thousands of [missing Ukrainian children] out. But really, the bigger picture is that we found the traffickers, and they were based in Holland," Ballard, who has also served as a special agent and an undercover operator with the US Department of Homeland Security, said, speaking to RIA Novosti at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington in February.
Ballard explained that the traffickers had been arrested and were awaiting trial, but the Dutch authorities "foolishly" allowed them to retain their passports, losing track of them for two years.
He added that the Department of Homeland Security eventually located them in Mexico and Ecuador, where they were attempting to recruit children, including Ukrainian refugees, for exploitation in sex hotels—one of which victimized boys as young as 11.
"They [the Dutch authorities] found out that the pedophile they were looking for ... was hiding in Mexico. And when they found that out, the Dutch erased [data on him]. They took it out of the system because they thought that Mexicans would lynch the pedophile. And that is like ... are you kidding me?" the ex-Homeland Security agent added.
Ballard then traveled to Europe to participate in a press conference, where he voiced his concerns to his European counterparts.
"What is wrong with you people? You think that Dutch kids are more important than Mexican kids? You do not care?" he said, recalling the discussions at the Amsterdam conference.
The founder of Operation Underground Railroad revealed his upcoming documentary, The Hidden War, set for global release.
The film exposes the interconnected child trafficking network operating across three continents, starting in Ukraine and extending to Latin America, offering a deep look into the fight against an international sex trafficking ring.
