Officials told newspaper Aftenposten that 213 children have sought asylum in Norway so far this year. Most of them have been placed at a special asylum center for children without parents in Moss.
"People-smuggling, especially that involving children, is organized crime in the vast majority of cases," said Atle Roll-Martinsen at Norway's special criminal investigative unit Kripos. He said it's improbable that children can reach Norway on their own, and that they rely on help along the way.
"There's reason to believe that when Norway is the last stop, there's a smuggler apparatus here in the country," Roll-Martinsen said. "The senders and the receivers cooperate."
Telling tales
The children themselves are believed to have been supplied with stories to explain how they got to Norway. In one case, a boy around eight years old said his mother and siblings in Kosovo were dead, and that he left Kosovo with his father. He claimed they were then separated in Germany.
An investigation into his case, however, found his parents and siblings living in Greece. When confronted with this information, the boy was saddened, but reportedly relieved that his lie had been revealed. Plans were made to reunite the boy with his family.
Norwegian officials say most of the parents are motivated either by trying to arrange a better life for their children, that they'll be able to follow the children to Norway, or the hope that the children can eventually be able to send money home to them.
The children are generally viewed as innocent victims of the smuggling, and most are sad and fearful as they sit alone in Norway, far from home and family. Norwegian authorities offer them care and, eventually, schooling while their cases are sorted out.
