-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Briton is key child sex trafficker SMUGGLING INDIAN CHILDREN TO EUROPE Deccan Herald Thursday, January 5, 2006 Madhuprasad N DH News Service Bangalore:
British citizen Douglas Ian William Rankin (62) who was arrested on December 24 by Immigration authorities at the Bangalore airport, is said to be one of the key players of a world-wide child sex trafficking ring. Following a tip-off from the British High Commission in Delhi, Rankin was arrested when he was trying to take two 16-year-old boys - an Iranian, Khayyam and an Afghan, Habibullah - illegally to London on fake Mexican passports. Immigration officials said Rankin's arrest has laid bare the increased threat faced by children of India and other countries from global child sex trafficking rackets. British paedophiles frequent Eastern Europe and South-East Asia. In India, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are their favourite haunts. Other European paedophiles - German, Dutch, French, Swiss and Swedish - are also regular visitors to India. After a crackdown on cheap child-sex tourism in Thailand and Sri Lanka, the paedophile bus has rolled into Goa, immigration sources observed. The lure particular countries hold to paedophiles relates to a number of factors including a low age of consent or tolerance of sex with children, inadequate legislation or poorly law enforcement and an established sex industry, the officials said. Poverty is also an important factor, and countries where natural or economic disasters have created a large pool of vulnerable children are likely to have paedophiles pouring in. Rankin, was born in Selkirk in 1943. His parents, Royal Air Force corporal Leonard and Betsy, are now dead. He was sent to a "List D" school as a boy and was a loner. His two sisters, Elizabeth, 65, of Basingstoke, and 67-year-old Kathleen, from Highth Wycombe, have been sending money to Rankin so that he would never return home, the officials said. Overstaying illegally in Goa for 10 years now, Rankin owns a six-bedroom house and is said to be engaged in water sports industry. But business fraternity in Goa have not heard of him, the officials said. He is also believed to be very popular among single European males in Goa. The presence of the Afghani in Rankin's intended quarry, has heightened fears that paedophiles may be preying on orphans in the war-torn country, the officials pointed out. When the immigration officials challenged Rankin, he insisted that he was David Suarez Perez, the alias on his Mexico passport. The officials searched his luggage and found a UK passport with the name Douglas Ian William Rankin. Rankin has smuggled children to the UK "at least once and perhaps three or four times" in recent years, the officials said. "Rankin has also allegedly smuggled Indian children from Mumbai and Delhi to Europe and the US through an Indian agent called Aliman, using the alias Ali from Mumbai." Khayyam and Habibulla are also being questioned, the officials said. A case has been registered with the Airport police. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------