Young girls 'smuggled into Norway as speed skaters'
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 20 Jun, 2016 CET.
Updated: Mon 20 Jun 2016 09:51 CET
Young girls have been smuggled from Mongolia into Norway, where they used as forced labour.
The girls are brought into Norway with visa paperwork portraying them as speed skaters, according to a report from Dagbladet.
The smuggling of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers was organized a long-time Mongolian national speed skating coach and former Mongolian junior champion skating. The latter is a policewoman who was previously found guilty of using fake ID and having illegal residence in Norway, Dagbladet wrote.
Dagbladet made the revelation after obtaining documents from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, the Immigration Appeals Board and the Norwegian Child Welfare Service. The newspaper also collected evidence from Mongolia showing that there were many people involved in the human smuggling scheme.
“They smuggled us in as speed skaters but we have never had skates on our feet,” a 19-year-old woman said.
The 19-year-old said she was smuggled into Norway when she was 15 and forced to work without pay. She currently has Norwegian citizenship and lives at a secret address.
According to Dagbladet, her mother is one of the masterminds of the smuggling scheme. The mother confirmed that she helped obtained visas for the girls, but said she was unaware that the girls were forced to work without pay in Oslo.
Italian authorities have started an investigation because the girls were issued special athlete visas at the country's embassy in Beijing.
In Norway, the Oslo Police said that both the 19-year-old’s moether and the national skating team coach had been reported for human trafficking and human smuggling, but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.
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The girls are brought into Norway with visa paperwork portraying them as speed skaters, according to a report from Dagbladet.
The smuggling of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers was organized a long-time Mongolian national speed skating coach and former Mongolian junior champion skating. The latter is a policewoman who was previously found guilty of using fake ID and having illegal residence in Norway, Dagbladet wrote.
Dagbladet made the revelation after obtaining documents from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, the Immigration Appeals Board and the Norwegian Child Welfare Service. The newspaper also collected evidence from Mongolia showing that there were many people involved in the human smuggling scheme.
“They smuggled us in as speed skaters but we have never had skates on our feet,” a 19-year-old woman said.
The 19-year-old said she was smuggled into Norway when she was 15 and forced to work without pay. She currently has Norwegian citizenship and lives at a secret address.
According to Dagbladet, her mother is one of the masterminds of the smuggling scheme. The mother confirmed that she helped obtained visas for the girls, but said she was unaware that the girls were forced to work without pay in Oslo.
Italian authorities have started an investigation because the girls were issued special athlete visas at the country's embassy in Beijing.
In Norway, the Oslo Police said that both the 19-year-old’s moether and the national skating team coach had been reported for human trafficking and human smuggling, but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.
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