Trafficking link to abandoned boy

Gurrinder Singh said he has been living with his uncle for three years

Police have said they are inquiring whether a nine-year-old boy found abandoned in west London could have been a victim of "child trafficking".

Gurrinder Singh, who belongs to the Sikh religion and speaks only Punjabi, was found in a clinic in Hartington Road, Southall, on Tuesday afternoon.

He told interpreters his uncle had left him at a bus stop.

Ealing and Southall MP Virendra Sharma said the community feel the incident is "unprecedented" and "beyond belief".

It is beyond belief that any parent or family could do this Virendra Sharma MP

Gurrinder is being looked after by social services.

A police spokesman said: "Child trafficking is one obvious line of inquiry."

Speaking to BBC London 94.9 Mr Sharma said: "People are concerned about it, it is a very unprecedented situation, particularly amongst the Punjabi community.

"This is one of the very recent cases people have seen and it is beyond their belief that any parent or family could do this."

Gurrinder told police he had been in the country for up to three years and has been living with his uncle in a three-bedroom house.

He also said he and his uncle, described as a white man in his 30s, came to Southall on a 'bendy-bus', believed to be the route 207 which operates between Shepherds Bush and Hayes by-pass.

Hinting that Gurrinder's abandonment is not as simple as it looks, Mr Sharma said it was strange for a boy not to know "where he is or what he was doing in the last few years" apart from "watching TV".

Police are continuing to appeal for any information on the boy and have also urged his uncle to come forward.