Tea garden boys saved from traffickers

One of the arrested men. (Biplab Basak)

TT, Jalpaiguri: Police on Monday rescued two minor boys and arrested four alleged traffickers who were planning to take the children to Jammu and Kashmir.

Based on a tip-off, the Banarhat police conducted a raid on the quarters of Saraswati Gope in labour line 4 of Mongolkata tea estate and saved the boys.

Anup Mahali of Sankosh Tea Estate, Manoj Kheria of Singhania Tea Estate in Birpara and Pawan Bhatti of Uttar Pradesh were in the quarters, along with the boys. The police arrested the trio and later, picked up Gope also.

According to police sources, both the boys were brought to the home of Gope on Sunday night. "The plan was to board a Delhi-bound train with the boys in the afternoon. Finally, the boys were supposed to be taken to Jammu Kashmir from Delhi. The boys are Class VII students and their fathers work on Sankosh Tea Estate," said a police source..

The arrested men were produced in the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jalpaiguri and remanded in jail custody for 14 days.

The police said the accused had trafficked many children before also.