India rescues 70 trafficking victims

Police have rescued 70 victims of human trafficking, including 33 children, in a restive and impoverished region of central India, an official said yesterday.

The victims, who had been sold to factories and brick kilns, were being transported on a bus when police intercepted the vehicle following a tip-off from anti-trafficking campaigners in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state on Wednesday.

"We have rescued 20 minor boys and 13 girls. Rest of them are adults and were sold as bonded labourers," Bastar child protection officer Vijay Shankar Sharma told AFP.