Today, Paris is shocked by the discovery of a 12-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found in a trunk, her head almost torn off and indications of possible organ trafficking. A total of 5 people are currently in custody including a 24-year-old woman described further as only North African (Maghrebian). The so-called Maghreb includes the nations of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, all of whom as former French colonies, have large diaspora populations residing in France.
I want to be cautious in how I describe this horrific crime. The conservative news organ, Le Figaro, seems to be the only news source in France (that I could find) that mentions the origin of the woman suspect, who surveillance video indicates, lured the young girl as she was returning home from school.
I don't want to leave the impression that North Africans, Muslims, or any other group are predominantly involved in a wave of organ trafficking. This is a canard that is once again being hurled at Jews and Israelis in particular, without credible evidence. I am not well enough informed on organ trafficking to know if this crime is particular to any one specific group.
The below article from today's Le Figaro is translated by Fousesquawk. (Note: This article in Le Figaro has been updated, so the reader will note certain discrepancies from what had earlier been translated.)
Paris: The body of an adolescent less than 12 years of age discovered in a trunk, several persons arrested
By Le Figaro with AFP (Agence France Presse)
A case has been opened for murder of a minor less than 15 years of age. The hypothesis of organ traffic is advanced.
She was 12 years old and was returning from (middle) school. Her body was found Friday evening in a trunk (wrapped) in plastic near her home in the 19th district of Paris, and 5 persons have been taken into custody in the course of this macabre incident, according to the Prosecutor's Office of Paris (information to) Le Figaro. At this stage, the investigations have established that the victim died of asphyxiation, the same source noted.
It was 11 pm when a homeless person reported to the police the discovery of an opaque box containing the body of an adolescent, in the inner courtyard of an apartment building in this east Paris district. The body of the schoolgirl was concealed by fabric, according to sources close to the case. Two suitcases were placed at the side of the box.
In a video posted on Twitter by independent journalist Clement Lanot, who disclosed the discovery of the body, white tarps are hanging over one well, and police in white coveralls are working through the night. The Paris Prosecutor's Office has opened a case for murder of a minor under the age of 15, which has been assigned to the Criminal Brigade.
Twitter insert:
The body of an adolescent born in 2010 has been discovered toning in the 19th District of Paris.
It was in a suitcase
She had disappeared yesterday afternoon as she was returning from school.
The Criminal Brigade has taken over the case.
Autopsy during the day
The trunk was found at the base of the apartment building where the young girl lived, the Prosecutor's Office noted. Her disappearance had been previously reported to the police, a source close to the case stated. According to another source close to the case, her father, the caretaker of the building where the family resides, concerned about not seeing her return from school at 3 pm, had notified his wife, who went to the police station to report her disappearance.
On her Facebook page, checked by AFP, the mother of the little girl had sent out an appeal for witnesses describing her daughter and the clothes she was wearing. Two photos accompanied this posting, one showing a smiling adolescent with long blond hair. In the second, apparently from surveillance camera images, we see her enter an apartment building. The surveillance cameras of the building clearly show the adolescent return, but she then disappears, according to a source close to the case. Le Parisien reports the remarks of a neighbor who reportedly saw the surveillance video with the father. We see the little girl accompanied by a woman in her twenties. "The woman makes a gesture to her as if she is telling her to come," this neighbor describes: "Lola didn't seem to be reassured at all. One can understand that what is happening is not normal."
The hypothesis of organ traffic?
Also according to Le Parisien, a local resident told police that a young woman, possibly the same on the surveillance video, reportedly asked him in the afternoon to help her carry a large trunk to a Dacia Lodgy (car). According to JDD (Journal du Dimanche), the woman, North African and aged about 30, reportedly promised money in connection to "organ traffic", but the man reportedly refused upon seeing bloody laundry in the car. An Uber driver reportedly finally helped the woman. Who, nevertheless, would have left the trunk near the residence of the young girl.
In retracing the subsequent route of the car, the investigators of the Criminal Brigade located the suspect at Bois-Colombes (Haut-de-Seine). In the evening they then arrested three persons near the location, the woman in the early morning. All were placed in custody as well as another person, according to the Prosecutor's Office, who stated that their roles remained to be determined. The accused will reportedly be examined by medical personnel, also according to JDD, and had not yet been questioned by investigators in the afternoon.
An autopsy of the body should be performed during the day to determine the cause of death. According to sources close to the case, the initial findings show the head was almost torn off and writings on the body of the schoolgirl. Saturday morning, Manin Street, where she lived, is calm except for the presence of a technical and scientific police car in front of the apartment building of the child.
*Update, October 16, 2002
According to Le Parisien, four people are in custody as of Sunday, all born in Algeria. They are two men and two women. The women are reportedly sisters, aged 24 and 43.
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