The lawyer of a Roma couple arrested for abduction of a minor has said the young blonde, green-eyed girl had been adopted by the couple and hoped to locate her biological mother in the next two days.
Kostas Katsavos, the lawyer for the couple, said they admitted the adoption was illegal.
'Our clients' claim is that 'we never abducted this child we just adopted her' in a way that was not legal that we can confess,' said Mr Katsavos after visiting the Roma couple in the police headquarters in Larissa.
He said investigators are eagerly searching to find the biological mother.
'We are in the middle of an investigation, in the middle of a private investigation, we hope that tonight or tomorrow we will find the mother,' said Mr Katsavos.
DNA tests have shown the couple were not the biological parents of the girl called 'Maria'.
They were living in the Roma settlement in the central Greek town of Farsala, in the region of Larissa.
The 40-year-old woman and 39-year-old man have been arrested for abducting a minor and police are investigating whether the girl was a victim of trafficking.
The couple are to appear before a prosecutor later today in Larissa.
During initial questioning, the couple gave at least five conflicting accounts of how the child ended up with them, including that she was found outside a supermarket, police said.
Mr Katsavos said the child was given to the couple by her biological mother, who could not afford to care for her.
The couple have kept the child as one of their own and had no intention of trying to sell her.
'If they wanted to do so they probably will sell her so far, the child is about five years old and is still in this family. They love her and they care (for) her as their own child,' said Mr Katsavos.
He denied this is a case of child trafficking by the couple.
The other children and relatives of the Roma couple said they were concerned for Maria and wanted to see her as she was part of the family.
Opening the doors of their home, the family insisted the child was properly cared for, displaying the child's bedroom where she slept in the brick house.
A bed covered with toys and a red coverlet could be seen.
Dresses and shoes hung in the closet, while the rest of the house revealed a fully tiled bathroom with a large bathtub and a fully tiled kitchen.
Maria was spotted by police during a routine check for illegal activities at the Roma settlement in Farsala, where many in the settlement lived in run-down brick houses, located within the town.
They became suspicious when they saw that Maria held no resemblance to the couple.
Police said she seems to speak only a few words in the Roma dialect and may be of northern or eastern European origin.
The Roma couples' relatives said Maria had been with them since she was a baby and spoke Roma with them.
Police have sent Interpol a file with all the evidence they have on the girl, including DNA samples.
They have also contacted international groups and charities that deal with lost or abducted children.
The child welfare charity 'Smile of the Child' is caring for the girl at one of its homes.
In response to an international appeal, it has received more than 5,000 calls since Friday both domestically and internationally, from people looking for their own missing child, offering to adopt the girl or with information.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, October 21, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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