Six Romanian nationals, including a woman, are behind bars.
They were indicted for trafficking in human beings in an organized gang and criminal association.
"They have acknowledged the facts but minimize the gains," said a source familiar with the matter.
A judicial investigation has been opened of these heads by the Bobigny prosecution.
Eleven men and women were arrested in two pavilions last Thursday, in Neuilly-Plaisance (Seine-Saint-Denis) and Villiers-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne).
Since the beginning of the year, they forced their own children to beg.
Children aged 8 to 12 were begging at crossroads and at red lights in Aulnay-sous-Bois.
The network had targeted the Ramadan period, from April 1 to May 1, to increase its profits.
One of the network leaders will recognize that “people give more during Ramadan”.
This great religious festival is in fact associated with solidarity and sharing in Islam.
Parents sent their kids to mosques.
Sometimes mothers accompanied their children.
They were dressed in long abayas and wore the veil to make believe that they were Muslims.
Children over 8 years old were dropped off alone in the morning and could be picked up late at night.
Sometimes they begged until midnight in front of places of prayer, totaling ten-hour days.
Children could raise up to 500 euros per day
The first suspicions of the Aulnay-sous-Bois family protection brigade appeared at the beginning of March.
At the Jean-Monnet crossroads, in Aulnay, swarms of children beg motorists.
The investigators notice that cars drop off the little beggars in the morning and do not return to pick them up until the evening.
The benefits derived from this activity are currently being assessed.
“130,000 euros would have been accumulated in 36 days”, indicates this same source.
It is estimated that the children could collect 300 to 500 euros per day.
In the pavilion of Villiers-sur-Marne, 64,000 euros in cash were seized and 14,000 euros kept in a safe were discovered in that of Neuilly-Plaisance.
Assessing the gains as accurately as possible: this will be the whole difficulty of the judicial investigation.
It will also have to trace the financial circuits to Romania.
Indeed, the police were able to identify ten transfers of 2,000 euros made via Western Union to Romania.
“But there is a difference between the estimated sums and the money found”, indicates the parquet floor of Bobigny.
The eleven children, who had been recruited by the network, were all the subject of a provisional placement order and entrusted to social assistance for children (ASE).