US church workers accused of Haiti kidnap
US church workers accused of Haiti kidnap
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Monday, 01, Feb 2010 11:05
By Richard James.
A group of US church activists has been arrested on suspicion of trying to kidnap over 30 Haitian children.
The ten Americans claim they were trying to rescue abandoned children from last month's devastating earthquake which left around 200,000 people dead.
Haitian police, however, have suggested the group had no authorisation to take the young children out of the country.
The US nationals, from the charity New Life Children's Refuge, are said to have been detained on the border with the Dominican Republic.
Haiti has imposed stricter controls on adoption to prevent child trafficking in the aftermath of the worst earthquake to strike the country in 200 years.
The Americans were reportedly being held at a police station in the capital Port-au-Prince on Sunday but had yet to be charged.
They claimed to have been arrested as a mistake and that they were taking the children to an orphanage across the border. It has emerged though that some of the young Haitians may have parents that are still alive.
Elsewhere in the country emergency airlifts are set to resume on Monday after being halted last week due to complaints form the US that health services were being swamped by the number of casualties being evacuated.