Scotland Yard hunts child traffickers.

LONDON -- The Metropolitan police have set up a child protection unit to work with international efforts to combat the possible trafficking of children in the wake of the Indian Ocean earthquake.

It established the intelligence cell following warnings by Unicef that children orphaned and displaced by the tsunami disaster are being targeted by pedophiles and child sex traffickers.

A police spokesman said: "This initiative will provide a central point of contact for all British personnel involved in protecting children displaced by the tsunami to report their concerns and allow for a more accurate assessment of the risk to children in the area."

The new unit will work with a range of national and international law enforcement and child welfare organizations including Unicef, the Home Office, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, the National Missing Persons Helpline, Save the Children, the National Crime Squad and Interpol.

The force stressed that there was as yet no specific intelligence to indicate that either traffickers or paedophiles have increased activity in the region. Indonesian PKPA (centre for study and child protection) has so far recorded more than 10 alleged cases of illegal adoptions of children from Aceh.

Unicef has mobilized a team of 36 specialist child trauma experts in Thailand where 300 children have been orphaned, according to government statistics. The team comprises psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians and nurses who will work in the provinces of Pang Nga, Krabi, Phuket and Ranong where many children have lost families and witnessed horrific scenes of destruction.

SocietyGuardian.co.uk