3 Oct 2008, 1307 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: Acting on a cue by an NGO, police and labour department officials raided embroidery units here and rescued 18 children who fell victim to human trafficking.

The raids, which happened earlier this week, rescued the boys from embroidery units in Saraswati Vihar and Aman Vihar in north west Delhi, Umesh Kumar Gupta of the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), which provided the information to the police, said on Friday.

The dingy and suffocating units had been the children's home for the past one and a half years.

"The rescued children hail from Sitamarhi district of Bihar and were brought to Delhi by middlemen who paid Rs.500-1,000 to their parents and promised them a bright future for their kids," Gupta said.

Bundled together in tiny rooms, the boys, aged between eight and 14, were made to work for long hours with little pay and punished at the drop of a hat.

Gupta said the children have been kept in the BBA's shelter home and are waiting to be taken back home.

"These kids will be given their release certificates later Friday and rehabilitated under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act. They will be given a rehabilitation amount of Rs. 360,000," he said.

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