Investigators said they suspect trafficking gangs smuggled more than 1,000 children from Romania, forcing them into petty crime believed to net more than $200 million a year, The Times of London said Tuesday.

The intelligence operation resulted in several arrests and the recovery of 68 children, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

The children were placed with social services and interviewed by police officials to see how they entered the country.

Authorities said they were attempting to contact parents or close relatives of the other recovered children to prevent the children from being returned to the petty-theft rings.