FEARS are growing for a teenage girl - possibly smuggled into Britain - who disappeared from the council home where she was placed into care.

Coi Kamell, 16, arrived in England from Kenya with no family six months ago.

She was put into care and provided with health checks and education.

But the youngster has triggered alarm after she disappeared without warning a fortnight ago.

It has been claimed that the girl was brought to Britain by the rapidly growing child trafficking network.

The authorities have issued urgent pleas for Coi to get in touch. They said the youngster's age and recent arrival in this country make her very vulnerable.

After Coi's arrival in Britain, she and another asylum seeker were set up in a secure flat in the Byker area of Newcastle and the 16-year-old registered as a part-time student at Newcastle College.

But on August 1 she disappeared without warning from her flat, taking clothes and personal belongings.

Despite urgent police appeals, there has been no news of her.

Last week, the international children's aid charity, Unicef UK, raised the problem of criminal gangs smuggling children into the North, as police begin to crack down on activities in the South.

Louis Coles, Unicef UK's North-East region fundraising manager, said: "Coi's case follows a pattern we are becoming all too familiar with.

"Unfortunately, there are many children plucked from safe houses or who actively seek out the traffickers and return to them."

Coi wasn described as having brown eyes, shoulder-length dark hair, is of medium build and is 5ft 8in tall.

A Newcastle City Council spokeswoman said: "She was provided with a safe and secure place to live, but she was 16 years old and free to come and go as she pleased. We are concerned about Coi and we would urge her to contact social services or the police, to let us know that she is safe."

A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said: "We have no evidence that Coi was a victim of child trafficking, but we are very concerned about her, because her age and her recent arrival in this country make her vulnerable."