- Unidentified girl found living in a Roma gypsy camp in central Greece
- Man, 39, and woman, 40, arrested and charged with abducting a minor
- The girl has fair hair and pale skin and bears no resemblance to them
- DNA testing proved she was not related to the couple
- Charity now caring for the girl requests global hunt to find her real parents
Who is she? Police are appealing for help identifying this four-year-old girl who was found on a gypsy camp in Greece after she was allegedly abducted
Greek authorities have requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in appalling conditions in a gypsy camp with a couple whom they have arrested and charged with abducting her.
The child was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a routine search of the camp by police looking for drugs and weapons.
The girl reportedly sparked one of the officer's curiosity as she is blonde, pale skinned and bore no resemblance to the other Roma children or the couple who claimed to be her parents.
A 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman have been arrested and charged with abducting a minor.
Police said they offered conflicting accounts about the girl, one claiming that she was found in a blanket, the other claiming she had been handed to them by strangers.
Police said today that DNA testing proved the girl, who is believed to be called Maria, was not related to the couple.
'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country,' regional police chief Panayiotis Tzavaras said.
Police have notified Interpol for assistance.
Detectives say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 280 kilometers (170 miles) north of Athens.
The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece.
Officers found three minors living with them in the settlement who appear to be their children - although that hasn't yet been verified by DNA testing.
The case bears a disturbing similarity to theories about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
The girl is now in the care of the charity 'A child's smile,' which said today it has sought the assistance of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents.
She does not speak other languages than Roma but appears to understand Greek and is being communicated with by sign language.
She was said to traumatised when she arrived at her care home but has since settled and is living in a safe family environment with other children of her age.
Distress: Dirty and grimacing as her photo is taken, the little girl is now the centre of an international appeal. Authorities hope her parents can be found so the family can be reunited
Police said the child was found near Farsala in central Greece during a crackdown on illegal activities by Roma
A medical examination is ongoing.
Panayiotis Pardalis, a spokesman for the charity, said: 'It was obvious that she was not a Roma girl.
'She was afraid and under some psychological pressure when she arrived. Colleagues have been trying to communicate but are struggling.
'She seems to understand Greek but cannot speak it. She was living under bad conditions and was very dirty but is now safe.'
Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations.
'We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own,' he told private Skai TV.
I hope they find the parents of this poor little girl.
Just makes you wonder, how many more children there are in the world, that are abducted......very sad for children that are
Maybe the child was given to the gypsies.
An unwed frightened teen mother perhaps, or a mother with 12 children that couldn't cope with any more
Her pigtails look either dirty or have been dyed?
I hope they discover who she is.
There may be a connection to this one..............
TO THE BRITISH MEDIA:
As you have clearly not connected the dots here with the story of the little abducted girl discovered in Greece.. Let me help you out a little.... The area she was found in is the very same area a prisoner in Greece told police that BEN NEEDHAM was being held in 1996. The lead was never fully investigated or closed. You can find the full details at http://www.helpfindben.co.uk/history.html
Now THAT is the "connection" that should be made!
@purple_haize wrote:I hope they find the parents of this poor little girl.
Just makes you wonder, how many more children there are in the world, that are abducted......very sad for children that are
Thousands every day, apparently. Sometimes before they are born. It is possible that some children adopted by Australian (and other Western countries) were abducted originally. It is a very lucrative racket.
