Pubdate: Sun, 23 Sep 2007
Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Author: Nina Lakhani
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

A Victim's Story:

THE BOY TAKEN INTO CARE ONLY TO DISAPPEAR AGAIN

Tuan Nguyen was found by police when they raided a cannabis factory in
a semi-detached house in Chelford Drive, Swinton, Greater Manchester,
in June.

According to police, Tuan, whose age is thought to be between 11 and
14, was abandoned by his parents in his native Vietnam and raised by
an older woman he called Grandmother. When she died he became a street
child before being brought illegally into Britain to guard and tend
the plants grown under ultraviolet lights in the house.

After he had been found by police and attempts to trace his family had
failed, Tuan was placed in a care home in nearby Eccles while
authorities deliberated over his future. However, on 9 September he
vanished and has not been seen since. Salford City Council insists
adequate precautions were taken to protect Tuan, who was accompanied
whenever he went out. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance
remain a mystery.

It isn't clear whether he ran away or was snatched back by members of
the gang who brought him to work in the cannabis factory. He was due
to start school this month. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake