Child migrants from Africa forced to work for drug gangs in Europe

Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent's soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found.

- Mark Townsend

EU police forces have warned of industrial-scale exploitation of African children by cocaine networks operating in western Europe in cities including Paris and Brussels as they seek to expand Europe's £10bn cocaine market.

Child protection agencies warned that cocaine gangs, which are exploiting the "unlimited" supply of vulnerable African children at their disposal, are using brutal means to control their victims, including torture and rape if they fail to sell enough drugs.

Sources told the Guardian that London may be next after police recently found a number of Moroccan and Algerian children, seemingly victims of torture, who they believe were trafficked into the country by cocaine gangs.

Concern over the level of exploitation was so great that in March, EU police forces along with UK and UN agencies and Europol - met to discuss how to tackle the exploitation and trafficking of African children by drugs networks based in western Europe.