Watch: Missing asylum seeking children ‘likely’ to have been trafficked by gangs, warn experts

Experts have told NationalWorld that the majority of asylum seeking children who have disappeared from Home Office hotels are likely to have been trafficked by gangs. Lawyer Philippa Southwell explained that many missing youngsters return to their traffickers due to “debt bondage”, with their families owing money back home. They are often used to run cannabis farms, as part of county lines drug rings, or for sex work, the former Anti-Slavery Commissioner added. The government has said around 200 youngsters seeking asylum are currently missing.Speaking to MPs on January 24, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said that of the 4,600 child asylum seekers who had arrived in the UK since 2021, 440 had gone missing, and only half had returned. The majority are thought to be young boys from Albania.