WikiLeaks: RCMP probed baby-smuggling ring
By Thane Burnett, QMI Agency
Hidden in bureaucratic language and straight facts in newly released dispatches from overseas cables leaked by WikiLeaks is a chilling story of baby snatching that may run from Egypt to Canada.
Diplomats and police agencies began to take notice of a possible illegal pipeline of kids to this continent, after one smuggling gang was busted using fraudulent papers to bring children to new homes in the U.S.
Egypt does not allow for adoptions.
The cables point out that on Sept. 17, 2009, an Egyptian judge sentenced 11 members of a baby-smuggling ring to 2-5 years in jail.
It came after a year-long investigation by Egyptian authorities.
And the leaked documents mention an RCMP investigations team “who arrived in Cairo (in July 2009) specifically to begin an investigation of the baby-smuggling network with regards to Canada.” The American diplomatic cable goes on to add that “further close co-operation with the RCMP will be important in identifying cases that may have used Canada as a means to enter the United States.”
The RCMP have so far not said publicly whether any investigation led to charges, or may be still ongoing. Calls to the RCMP Friday were not immediately returned. A spokesman for Foreign Affairs said the department doesn't comment on leaked documents.
"Furthermore, these are not Canadian documents," the spokesman said.
The depth of the human trafficking was, according to the cables, substantial and deep.
“The profile developed … with regards to the baby-smuggling network showed that the smugglers had been utilizing all available avenues to move babies to the United States,” the leaked cables report.The Canadian Embassy, the documents point out, “undertook a comprehensive review of almost 300 cases, identifying about a dozen that were suspect and subsequently referred those to (the Egyptian State Security Investigative Services).”
In some of the investigated cases, Coptic priests — according to the cables — were involved in the babies and children being taken out of Egypt. An official with the Canadian Coptic Association told one Canadian newspaper those cases were not smuggling, and involved an effort to find homes for kids living alone on Egyptian streets.
One Coptic priest involved apparently stopped an application to get an American visa at the point he was going to be fingerprinted and questioned. He then tried for, and got, a visa to come to Canada.But the leaked documents point out the Canadian embassy then cancelled his entry documents, after finding out Egyptian officials were looking for him. The cables are part of a mountain of sensitive American diplomatic cables slowly being made public by WikiLeaks.
By Thane Burnett, QMI Agency
Hidden in bureaucratic language and straight facts in newly released dispatches from overseas cables leaked by WikiLeaks is a chilling story of baby snatching that may run from Egypt to Canada.
Diplomats and police agencies began to take notice of a possible illegal pipeline of kids to this continent, after one smuggling gang was busted using fraudulent papers to bring children to new homes in the U.S.
Egypt does not allow for adoptions.
The cables point out that on Sept. 17, 2009, an Egyptian judge sentenced 11 members of a baby-smuggling ring to 2-5 years in jail.
It came after a year-long investigation by Egyptian authorities.
And the leaked documents mention an RCMP investigations team “who arrived in Cairo (in July 2009) specifically to begin an investigation of the baby-smuggling network with regards to Canada.” The American diplomatic cable goes on to add that “further close co-operation with the RCMP will be important in identifying cases that may have used Canada as a means to enter the United States.”
The RCMP have so far not said publicly whether any investigation led to charges, or may be still ongoing. Calls to the RCMP Friday were not immediately returned. A spokesman for Foreign Affairs said the department doesn't comment on leaked documents.
"Furthermore, these are not Canadian documents," the spokesman said.
The depth of the human trafficking was, according to the cables, substantial and deep.
“The profile developed … with regards to the baby-smuggling network showed that the smugglers had been utilizing all available avenues to move babies to the United States,” the leaked cables report.The Canadian Embassy, the documents point out, “undertook a comprehensive review of almost 300 cases, identifying about a dozen that were suspect and subsequently referred those to (the Egyptian State Security Investigative Services).”
In some of the investigated cases, Coptic priests — according to the cables — were involved in the babies and children being taken out of Egypt. An official with the Canadian Coptic Association told one Canadian newspaper those cases were not smuggling, and involved an effort to find homes for kids living alone on Egyptian streets.
One Coptic priest involved apparently stopped an application to get an American visa at the point he was going to be fingerprinted and questioned. He then tried for, and got, a visa to come to Canada.But the leaked documents point out the Canadian embassy then cancelled his entry documents, after finding out Egyptian officials were looking for him. The cables are part of a mountain of sensitive American diplomatic cables slowly being made public by WikiLeaks.
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