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Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Trafficking

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Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Trafficking

Postby Tim Drayton » Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:18 pm

This should not be happening in Cyprus.

Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Trafficking Gang Targets Children

Thomas Cook has moved more than 100 Irish and British holidaymakers from a Cyprus hotel after families were targeted by a gang of child-snatchers.

Families spoke of their terror after three youngsters were almost abducted at the Anastasia Beach Complex on Tuesday night.

The children, who are believed to be under 10, were led to a car by a man and woman when an eagle-eyed holidaymaker rushed to confront the couple.

The alleged child-snatchers, who are believed to be Romanian, were quickly apprehended and handed over to local police.

Speaking to the Mirror, father-of-two Greg Letchford said: ‘This Romanian couple were leading the two young children towards a waiting car, another person had a third child up against a wall ready to go too. Someone saw what they were up to and stopped them.

‘If he hadn’t been there those kids would have gone.

‘One of the men got away and we heard the getaway car crashed a short distance away too.

‘When police turned up they took the man and woman into an office in the hotel and a crowd built up in the foyer – there must have been about 60 or 70 really angry people. It was chaos. The police got them into a van through a window for their protection’.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Thomas Cook confirmed that they were investigating the incident, and holidaymakers were offered a new hotel by the firm.

‘Thomas Cook has requested an increased and immediate security presence at the hotel’, she said. ‘The safety and welfare of our customers is always our priority and upon hearing about the incident we immediately deployed our experienced resort team to provide customer support.

‘While incidents of this nature are extremely rare, we’d like to reassure all customers this is being taken incredibly seriously and we are continuing to work closely with the local authorities.'

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/thomas-cook-m ... ml#zhT6ul9
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Maximus » Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:46 pm

This should not be happening anywhere,

Abducting or trying to abduct other peoples children is disgusting.
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Tim Drayton » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:03 pm

Maximus wrote:This should not be happening anywhere,

Abducting or trying to abduct other peoples children is disgusting.


Agreed, of course it should not be happening anywhere at all, so maybe I didn't phrase that very well. But, Cyprus has an enviable reputation for being safe and relatively crime free, and so a good place to come for a carefree family holiday. Cyprus tourism cannot afford to lose that reputation.
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Cap » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:08 pm

This should not be happening in Cyprus.


It didn't.
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Tim Drayton » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:17 pm

Seems this might be yet another blatant lie by the British right-wing tabloid press:

Police deny ‘attempted abduction’
http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/06/18/polic ... abduction/
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Get Real! » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:31 pm

There's gotta be *some* truth to this story because this site has pictures of at least 3 police cars outside the hotel...

http://news.stv.tv/tayside/1323166-scot ... in-cyprus/
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Cap » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:36 pm

Get Real! wrote:There's gotta be *some* truth to this story because this site has pictures of at least 3 police cars outside the hotel...

http://news.stv.tv/tayside/1323166-scot ... in-cyprus/


Dunno if you're trying to be sarcastic dude.
Of course the cops followed up the claims.

'The facts that are known is that a someone who was not a member of the family or a guest of the hotel was apprehended for taking photographs on his mobile ‘phone, which was examined by police. No inappropriate imagery was discovered. '

http://www.famagustaparentsnetwork.com/ ... -protaras/
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby GreekIslandGirl » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:43 pm

Predictable over-reaction in reporting. One article says Romanians and the other Bulgarians. :roll: The BBC left enough information out to suggest the alleged abductors were Cypriot ('homes searched') and linked it nicely to the article on the Greek debt where further meaning-loaded claims to make the whole thing look shifty informed us that Tsipras is now meeting with Russians. Well, I know for sure the man who tried to abduct my friend's 5 year old in London was English, but so what?
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby GreekIslandGirl » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:47 pm

May I just remind everyone to watch canny Cameron's tactics unfold ...
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Re: Thomas Cook Moves Holidaymakers After Suspected Traffick

Postby Tim Drayton » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:47 pm

Get Real! wrote:There's gotta be *some* truth to this story because this site has pictures of at least 3 police cars outside the hotel...

http://news.stv.tv/tayside/1323166-scot ... in-cyprus/


Well informed, aren't they? From that story:

"A statement (translated from Cypriot) on the Cyprus Police Facebook page said: "Concerning foreign media reports of alleged attempted abduction of children in tourist area of the province of Famagusta, we inform the public, that this does not apply."

Cypriot!
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