10,000 child refugees missing, Europol says

The European Union police agency says authorities dealing with Europe’s migrant crisis have lost track of about 10,000 unaccompanied children over the last 18 months amid fears that organised crime gangs are beginning to exploit the vulnerable youngsters.

Europol chief of staff Brian Donald said that the figure “would be a conservative estimate across all the countries that are dealing with this migrant crisis.

“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus children,” Donald said, adding that 5,000 had disappeared in Italy alone.