pedophiles the gambia

© My Story Media
A tourist wades into the sea with a modest African child in The gambia - where kid sex corruption is rife

Gambian children are being sold to British paedophiles for equally little as £2-a-time by their desperate parents, Sun Online can reveal.

Huge numbers of predators are taking advantage of lax laws in the poverty stricken African country to embark on sick child abuse holidays where they openly target little boys and girls.

Sun Online saw first hand how poor Gambian children can be vulnerable to British paedos when nosotros visited the embankment resorts that dot Kololi on the state'due south picturesque Atlantic coastline.

Our reporter was constantly shocked by the number of unaccompanied African minors he saw being cared for by middle-aged, Western men who did not appear to be their biological fathers.

gambia pedophiles child british man

A man with a British emphasis holds a scared toddler in his arms

The encounters witnessed included a daughter aged between 6 and eight having lunch with a balding, white haired man in a restaurant filled with similarly anile tourists.

The same day nosotros saw a stoutly built man in his 50s or 60s wading into the bounding main gripping the hand of a tiny African child in white swimming shorts.

Equally unsettling was the sight of a Gambian toddler watching wide-eyed with fear as a center-anile white woman got into a fist fight with a young black prostitute at a popular beach bar.

It was 11.30pm at nighttime and the air was thick with cigarette smoke. The child, no older than two, was being held closely past a white man with a British emphasis.

Children sold for £ii

Our investigation comes as experts warn that the economic crunch unleashed by the collapse of travel firm Thomas Melt is helping turn the former British colony into a "paedophile paradise" where perverts can operate unchecked.

Thomas Cook flew 45 per cent of The gambia's 100,000 annual visitors from the UK to the capital Banjul until it went into liquidation nether the weight of its debts in September.

The gambia map pedophiles

In an exclusive interview, Lamin Fatty, the National Coordinator of the Kid Protection Brotherhood in The Gambia, reveals that both male and female tourists are targeting African minors.

He warns: "Sex is cheap in my country and children are beingness sold for equally picayune as 150 dalasis, or just over £2 in your currency. Some of the parents know their children are being abused and they accept information technology because they are and so drastic for nutrient in their bellies.

"Others are as well naïve to realise. They retrieve the Westerner is paying their bills and helping their male child or daughter out of the kindness of their center, while in reality they have bad intentions.

"Child abuse is going on all the time in The Gambia and the government is not doing plenty to put a terminate to it.

The Gambia pedophiles

© My Story Media
Two school-age girls play at the feet of 2 men, their mums nowhere in sight

"Our children are being approached directly on the beaches or the street and kid abusers from all over Europe including the Great britain are coming here for this.

"I want to brand clear that this does not just involve men but too developed women who are paying for sex with teenage boys in The gambia.

"We accept laws that are supposed to terminate this from happening only they are not beingness enforced so nosotros have become a paradise for paedophiles."

Locals 'desperate' afterward Thomas Melt collapse

Every bit tourism makes up ane-tertiary of the land'southward GDP, there are fears that businesses volition go bosom and locals will go hungry following an estimated 50 per cent drop in economic action that has already hitting embankment resorts.

Lawyer and children's rights abet Malick Jallow told Sunday Online: "While some tourists will always want to assist poor Gambians, others will see this situation as an opportunity to exploit immature children.

the gambia pedophiles britain

© My Story Media
Lamin Fatty, National Coordinator of the Children's Protection Brotherhood, said this boy shouldn't be in a bar so late at night, adding: "Nosotros do not encourage concrete amore with minors"

"The trouble is that the corruption is sometimes carried out with the blessing of the parents because they are so in need.

"The perception is that white people, or 'toubabs' every bit they call them, have stacks of greenbacks and these parents are often excited that their kid has attracted the attention of a white homo.

"It actually makes them feel proud and so they give their permission for the boy or girl to become with the person and when the police effort to question them they volition non co-operate."

'She didn't look comfortable at all'

Former Thomas Cook rep Anne Heap, 53, from Wigan, said: "These people are as poor as poor can be — information technology's rare to come across a child wearing shoes — and there isn't whatever other trade for them exterior tourism.

"Thomas Melt used to always requite us an extra 10kg baggage assart then the workers and passengers could bring aid boxes to The Gambia — basic things like wearing apparel, medicine and school equipment.

"The commencement thing I idea of when we went under was, 'What is going to happen to people in The Gambia?' We were the only airline flying straight there.I've heard that criminal offence has already shot upwards as in that location is non plenty coin coming in — the paw that feeds them is gone.

"Sex tourism is already huge in The Gambia — some confined are like brothels — and I exercise worry that more than children will get lured into prostitution to feed their families. When I was working there I would see old men walking with girls as immature as 10, eleven or 12. There is a night side to The Gambia.

"One time when we were flying back to Manchester there was a British man in his 70s with a girl who was only about 8 or nine. This was nigh viii years agone. I was so concerned about what was going on that I got chatting to him outside the toilet during the flying. I wanted to speak to the girl too but she never left her seat, she didn't await comfortable at all. I reported it and border security later told me the human had been 'apprehended' only I was not able to discover out what happened to him or the girl afterward that."

Tots mitt-in-hand with 'paedos'

We came beyond a number of tourists with young children in the Due west African resortCredit: My Story Media

At that place is no proof to advise that whatsoever of the men we pictured were paedophiles.

All the same the experts we showed our dossier of photos to said the police should have questioned them according to Gambian child protection laws.

Lamin Fatty said: "This does worry me considering, if the children are unaccompanied, they should not exist lone in tourist areas without their parents.

"Information technology is also forbidden for a child to be in a bar so late at nighttime and we exercise non encourage physical affection with minors.

"I work with young girls and boys and I would not hug them or pick them up, it is not appropriate."

Malick Jallow added: "I would have questioned these men had I seen them myself. Equally a lawyer and an activist, I would desire to know if they have the potency to be caring for that kid. We have a lot of skillful Samaritans coming to The The gambia but nosotros also have people who use charity as a front end to hide their bad intentions.

"The security guards should have questioned these men but there is a civilization of inferiority here and they would have been scared to claiming a wealthy Westerner."

British tourists tin can however fly to Gambia via Lisbon with the TAP airline or via Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc. In that location is also a express direct service run by 'The Gambia Feel' visitor and package deals can be snapped upward for just over £500 a person.

Pensioners taking teens to hotels

Older British women are famed for holidaying in The Gambia, where some pick up African gigolosCredit: My Story Media

Wellness care assistant Lucy Mendy, 33, from Gloucester, was trying to savour a winter holiday in the state she has come up to come across every bit a second home — but says she was shocked by some of the things she had witnessed during her trip.

She said: "I've seen old men taking girls looking every bit young as 15 or 16-years-old to their hotel room.

"It fabricated me feel sick and I wish I could have intervened, but this is non the Great britain and I was scared what might accept happened if I tried to confront them. People here are so poor, some of them will do anything for money, even if it means giving their bodies to a tourist."

Marjorie said the impact of Thomas Melt closing down was articulate to see in the resort

Lucy'due south mum, pensioner Marjorie Botton, 68, also from Gloucester, added: "The collapse of Thomas Cook has hit people and so hard.

"They are getting half as many British tourists and that means they might not make enough coin to get through the placidity season, which starts in April."

Dutch tourist Corina Bouwman also witnessed suspected kid abuse during her two week, winter holiday in Dec.

The social worker, 54, said: "I've seen a number of tiny African children walking around with large white men. On each occasion I thought, 'What is going on here? Where is the kid'due south female parent?' But I didn't want to accuse anyone in instance I had misread the situation."

'White men approach trivial boys and girls'

Father-of-four Abdullah Labamba, 48, runs a fruit stand up next to one of the many hotels that line Kololi's palm-tree fringed beach and says he has witnessed paedophiles targeting vulnerable kid workers selling peanuts for less than £1 a bag.

the gambia pedophiles britain

© My Story Media
Fruit seller Abdullah Labamba, pictured, says paedos often target vulnerable child workers selling peanuts

He said: "I've seen white men arroyo the little boys and girls right here on the beach. I practise my all-time to stop them. "I tell the children, 'Become out of here, this is not a prophylactic place for you.' The children will run away simply they ordinarily come dorsum. It's shocking."

"Their parents are desperate for money and they know they won't be allowed home until they accept sold at least five bags. Some men endeavour to have advantage of that by offer them £50 for the whole basket. And then they will ask them to come up back to get somewhere private."

Child abuse scourge

Tragically, child abuse is at present endemic in Republic of the gambia, where 60 per cent of the 1.9m population live below the poverty line.

Previous research has shown that paedophiles often pose equally charity workers and Skillful Samaritans so they can befriend poor families — and UNICEF has warned that The Gambia is one of Africa's top destinations for kid sexual practice tourism.

The Gambian authorities meanwhile has tried to crevice down and in 2013 introduced new laws allowing them to seize hotel properties if children are knowingly abused on the premises.

They also pledged to requite out "hefty fines" and "stiff sentences" to paedophiles that are caught.

But incredibly there has been only 1 successful prosecution since laws were tightened and that man ended up being pardoned by the president.

Svein Agesandakar pedophile gambia

Svein Agesandakar was jailed for sexual offences against children

Norwegian instructor Svein Agesandakar, 57, was found guilty of abusing vi children, the youngest aged three, in 2006.

The courtroom heard how he had tricked his fashion into a difficult-upwardly Gambian family unit past posing equally a do-gooder, giving the parents sacks of rice and new shoes in exchange for time alone with their large breed of vi kids in a hotel room.

The paedophile had separate convictions for child abuse in Kingdom of norway only was sentenced to but three years in jail.

Then, in 2018 President Adama Barrow decided to pardon him for reasons that have never been explained. The pardon was later revoked amidst a public outcry merely experts fear his case has given a green low-cal to other paedophiles.

ECPAT is the just child rights charity that is solely focusing on catastrophe the sexual exploitation of children.

Children in all countries of the world are at risk of trafficking and prostitution, every bit well as online dangers such as grooming, sextortion and the proliferation of kid sexual abuse images.

In recent years, the travel and tourism sector has imperilled millions of children worldwide as travelling child sex offenders find new victims.

To end these crimes, knowledge and evidence must exist of the highest possible quality to inform decisions and guide action.

Predator complimentary

In October terminal yr an official United nations investigation found that The gambia's tourist areas proceed to exist a dangerous identify for children and that predators now stay in motels and private apartments so they can avert prying eyes.

UN Special Rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio reported: "The rare instances when complaints are lodged with the constabulary are not duly acted upon, the gathering of compelling prove is delayed, and investigation and prosecution is stalled, resulting in victims or witnesses withdrawing their complaints.

"Some cases have also reportedly been dismissed on the grounds that statements by child victims were allegedly inconsistent."

Our study comes after the U.k. authorities was slammed for declining to protect children overseas from British predators.

A written report by the Contained Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) constitute more needs to be done to brand sure offenders operating in poor countries like The Republic of the gambia are caught and prosecuted.

Calling for a new national programme to tackle the problem, Debbie Beadle, Director of Programmes at the child protection organisation ECPAT UK, said: "Nosotros hope that by bringing these institutional failings to low-cal, the United kingdom can get a world leader in tackling the corruption of vulnerable children globally, and that child victims abroad are no longer 'under the radar' of authorities.

Global manhunt for Aussie paedo monster Simon Gordon Davies who ran kid sex activity band from charity prepare up to 'help' homeless kids

End Child Prostitution and Trafficking - ECPAT is conducting principal research, likewise as bringing together information from various sectors and countries around the world, to form a reliable and professional person range of academic sources.The charity supports the protection of children and empowerment of 113 members in 98 countries - including The The gambia. You can donate to ECPAT hither .