‘Children simply disappear’: Whistle-blower reveals how asylum-seeking kids are abducted from British govt hotel

London: A number of asylum-seeking children in the UK have been kidnapped right outside of a hotel run by the Home Office, a whistle-blower has revealed. The whistle-blower, working for the UK Home Office, says that the crime has been committed repeatedly across the south coast. Child protection sources claim that they have witnessed children being abducted from streets outside a hotel in England’s Brighton and bundled into cars. The source told The Guardian, “Children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They’re being taken from the street by traffickers.” The Home Office has apparently been warned repeatedly by the police that the situation of asylum-seeking children – who recently arrived in UK without their parents or carers – remains extremely vulnerable and that criminal networks constantly target them. Asylum in UK for children As per the UK government’s official website, children under 18 can apply for asylum in the country on their own. Children who arrive with an adult legal guardian must apply and be present with them during the walk-in service at the asylum intake unit. Meanwhile, children who don’t have a legal guardian are advised to reach out to the local police or social services and even walk into the asylum intake unit. After applying for services at the asylum intake unit, children are also required to undergo a screening process at the border. ‘Truly appalling and scandalous’ Following the shocking revelation, the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said that the issue is “truly appalling and scandalous” while calling on the government to reveal the number of children who have disappeared in the past and find out what has been done to them. “Suella Braverman [the home secretary] has failed to act on the repeated warnings she has been given about totally inadequate safeguards for children in their care,” she said. Cooper added, “It is a total dereliction of duty for the Home Office to so badly fail to protect child safety or crack down on the dangerous gangs putting them in terrible risk. Ministers must urgently put new protection arrangements in place.” The Home Office has, however, rejected the claims of children getting abducted from their hotels, saying it was “not true” and that youngsters are free to leave government accommodations. “Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from. In the concerning occasion when a child goes missing, they work closely with other local agencies, including the police, to urgently establish their whereabouts and ensure they are safe,” the Home Office said in a statement. “We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all children in our care are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority,” the office added. Not just in Brighton The whistle-blower also revealed that children are also been kidnapped from hotels in Hythe and Kent, saying that an estimated 10 per cent of young asylum seekers disappear each week. Meanwhile, it is feared that the children abducted from the Brighton hotel have been trafficked as far away as Manchester and Scotland. According to data released last year in October, as many as 222 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have simply vanished from Home Office-run hotels. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.