DHAKA: A group of Bangladeshi children who worked as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates will get more than $50,000 in compensation from the Gulf state, an official said Thursday.

The 29 children were among 200 repatriated three years ago when the UAE signed an agreement with the UN children’s fund Unicef to outlaw the practice of children riding in camel races.

The UAE banned child jockeys in 1993 although abuses remained widespread until the 2005 agreement.

Magistrate Abul Bashar Mohammad Amiruddin told Agence France-Presse the children were from the Gazipur district, near the capital Dhaka, and a UAE representative had visited this week to announce the compensation package.

“The UAE official said the 29 children, who were aged between five and 18 when they came back to Bangladesh, will get between $1,200 and $3,000 each and the total will be $52,700,” Amiruddin said.

Some of the children were trafficked from Bangladesh, others were sent there to earn money for their families back home and others were used as underage jockeys to earn money for families living in the UAE.

Poverty and lack of jobs in Bangladesh, where 40 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, drives millions abroad each year to send money back to their families.

Poor parents are vulnerable to traffickers who prey on their desperation by making false promises of good jobs abroad for their children.

– AFP

AT least seven persons, most of them minors, were rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from an alleged human-trafficking syndicate in an operation in North Harbor, Manila.

Roland Argabioso, chief of the NBI’s Field Operations Division, said two persons were arrested while another is still at large.

Argabioso witheld the names of the victims and the suspects owing to the confidentiality clause in crimes involving human trafficking. The victims—four females and three males, are reportedly aged 16 to 18.

NBI agents are preparing charges for violation of Republic Act 9208, the Antitrafficking in Persons Act of 2003, against the suspects.

Argabioso said the operation was launched after the NBI received information that several minors from Dipolog City were recruited and promised jobs as saleswomen in a department store in Manila.

The informant told NBI officials that the minors were unaware of the modus operandi of the recruiter, who is a known supplier of prostitution houses in Manila.

The ferry where the recruits were being transported was scheduled to arrive on June 4, at 3 p.m. from Dipolog City. The informant added the minors will be picked up from the port and will be taken to an undisclosed location somewhere in Manila.

The informant disclosed that one of the victims is her cousin, whom she had constant communication with through text messages.

The informant claimed that on the morning of June 3, she received a text message from her cousin that she would be arriving in Manila.

When the informant asked her cousin the reason for coming to Manila, her cousin replied that she was recruited by a certain “Inday” to work as a saleswoman in Manila.

The informant said that the names and ages of the victims were changed when tickets were purchased for a trip to Manila, on board M/V Dipolog Princess.

The NBI then set up an operation on June 4 to rescue the trafficked persons and arrest the suspects.

The NBI agents positioned themselves in the area where the passengers would be alighting at Pier 12 of North Harbor.

At 4 a.m. on June 4, one of the victims, the informant’s cousin, was spotted by the NBI going toward a parking area where she was approached by a woman and a man.

The three then proceeded to Moriones Street, where a white van was waiting. The NBI agents then approached and identified themselves. The two suspects were placed under arrest.

CAMP MACABULOS, Tarlac  — Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team (CIDT) rescued four minors and rounded-up 12 guest relation officers from a prostitution den in Bgy. San Isidro, Tarlac City yesterday.

Supt. Nestor C. Babagay, CIDT Tarlac chief, said the owner, identified as Vridge Espinosa of Bgy. San Isidro was charged with Child Prostitution and Child Abuse cases with a recommended bail of P180,000.

The women were charged with violation of Presidential Decree 969 that prohibits obscene exhibition and indecent shows. A 17-year-old  girl, a resident of Forbes Park, Manila was caught having sexual intercourse with a CIDT poseur customer during the operation.

In a report to CIDG regional officer Senior Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, Supt. Babagay said at 10:30 p.m. his men raided the massage clinic after one of his men entered the establishment by posing as customer.

The CIDG operatives found the 18 women, who were working at the clinic failed to present their health and sanitation permits from the City Health Office which endangers the health of the customers.

The four minors were turned-over to the City Social Welfare Department, all aged 17.