Lahore and AJK police bust huge child trafficking ring

A joint team from the Anti-Kidnap for Ransom Unit (AKRU) of the Lahore Organised Crime Unit (OCU) and AJK police has recovered 29 kidnapped children from the Kotli district of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), marking a significant victory against child trafficking.

In the Kotli district of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), as many as 29 kidnapped juveniles between the ages of 14 and 20 have been freed by police.

Reports say the children were sexually assaulted and that most of them were kidnapped from the area of the Hazrat Ali Usman Hajvari (RA) Data Ganj Bakhsh shrine in Lahore.

The children were being closely watched by armed men in two rented houses when a team from the Lahore Organised Crime Unit (OCU) and AJK police launched a successful operation.

Information about the existence of a child trafficking network was provided by a suspect whom the OCU had apprehended, which sparked the raid. The minors were sent to AJK as forced labor in the catering business after being lured by the traffickers with deceptive promises of high-paying jobs.

Key gang members, including a suspect known as “Kanpata,” and several collaborators were apprehended during the operation.