Alleged child traffickers have been apprehended with 61 children aged between 4 and 10 en route to Gambia.
The human cargo was discovered stowed away in two trucks as they passed through the southern Guinea-Bissau city of Buba. According to police, all the children were taken from Tombali, the southernmost region of the country. Police spokesman Francisco N’Dur Djata said the men responsible convinced the children’s parents that they represented a charitable organisation and the children were being taken to a Koranic school in Gambia – a notion that would be considered an honour by Muslim families, which make up at least half the population of the former Portuguese colony.
Many of the children were reportedly ill or suffering fatigue due to the rigors of the journey. They have been placed in protective custody at a UNICEF-sponsored facility in Buba. According to Aboubacar Sultan, Guinea-Bissau’s UNICEF representative, there is still “more to be done in terms of prevention.(..) this will be our agenda for days to come.”
