The stop-start trial of Titi, Constantin Radu, and 25 other men has gone on for more than nine years. The 66-year-old man and his gang are accused of trafficking Romanian Roma minors to Western Europe for a life of forced criminality, panhandling and stealing. Titi, a Roma himself, sits on top of the pyramid of a notorious gang as the kingpin of this transnational network. He is from the southeastern Romanian town of Tandarei, where luxorious mansions have been built next to the slums. The target country of their trafficking is mainly Britain, but children are also sent to Spain, Italy, France and Norway. The members of this Romanian gang were arrested after an investigation that took four years. However, this February, they were all acquitted in a shock verdict which many say reflects the corruption, weakness and disfunctionality of the Romanian justice system. A petition was signed in the hopes of drawing the attention of international bodies to this matter, especially after the police proved incompetent in preventing the murder and rape of a 15-year-old Romanian girl.
According to European Commission Data, nearly 75% of European traffic victims are from Romania, and in 2018, these numbers were the worst. This suggests a link between law enforcement and organised crime