20 Oct 2013

Greek police search for parents of blonde child

6:17 am on 20 October 2013

Greek police are trying to figure out the identity of a young blonde girl, found living on a Roma settlement with a family she did not resemble.

DNA tests reveal the child, called Maria and aged around four, was not related to the couple she lived with.

A photo of Maria released by Greek police.

A photo of Maria released by Greek police. Photo: HELLENIC POLICE

The little girl is now being looked after by a charity, and her photo has been released to help find her family.

The BBC reports that officials fear she may have been a victim of abduction or child trafficking.

Police are appealing internationally as the little girl looks like she might be from northern or eastern Europe.

Police who police raided the Roma camp, near Farsala in central Greece, on suspicion of criminal activity noticed the lack of resemblance between the blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl and her parents, and found further discrepancies when they investigated the family's documents.

The couple had registered different numbers of children with different regional family registries and the woman claimed to have given birth to six children within a 10-month period.

When questioned about how they came to have Maria, the couple gave "constantly changing claims," Thessalia Province Police Director Vassilis Halatsis said.

They have been arrested on suspicion of abducting a minor.

The president of the Smile of the Child organisation that is looking after the little girl, Kostas Yaaopoulos, says the child is confused and shocked by the change in her environment.

He alleged that she was being used to beg on the streets of Larissa because she was blonde and cute, he alleged.