AIZWAL: The Mizoram Police have rescued 31 teenage Nepali and Rohingya Muslim girls, suspected to be victims of human trafficking, an official said on Wednesday.
"Police last week rescued 23 Nepali and eight Rohingya Muslim girls. We suspect these girls, aged between 15 to 22 years, are victims of human trafficking," Inspector General of Mizoram Police (Law and Order), L.H. Shanliana, told IANS.
The Nepali girls were rescued from Champhai in eastern Mizoram near the Myanmar border while the Rohingya girls were detained at Vairengte in northern Mizoram.
The police official said that one Lal Bahadur, who was accompanying the 23 Nepali girls, has been arrested.
"Mizoram Police is investigating the matter and interrogating the detainees. The girls are now in government protection shelters," Shanliana said.
The Nepali girls informed the police that they were told to visit tourist spots in the state and to also attend a festival there.
"The Rohingya girls told the police that they were abducted by human traffickers from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to be sent to Malaysia for jobs. We suspect these girls were to be forced into prostitution," a police official said on condition of anonymity.
Mizoram has an unfenced international border -- 510 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh.