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Child traffickers 'meant well'
31/01/2008 13:00 - (SA)
Maputo - Seven people arrested for allegedly trafficking 40 children had said the children were destined for Maputo and Tete provinces to continue religious studies, Mozambican media reported on Thursday.
This week, local media reported that the children could have been destined for South Africa, which migration authorities regarded as a fertile market for trafficked people, accounting for an estimated 1 000 Mozambicans each year.
The daily Noticias said in a report on Thursday that the arrested individuals were Islamic elders of a Nampula-based Islamic madrassa.
They included Abdula Garcia, the head of the Hamza madrassa in Nampula city, Amade Mussa Bilaule and Amade Rachid Alfane, co-ordinator and secretary-general of the same madrassa respectively, and Felisberto Joaquim Pinga, the driver of the truck, which was transporting the children.
Parents pay food allowances
The arrested individuals said they were transporting the children to Maputo to enable them continue with their Islamic studies at institutions in the capital and in Tete city, north west of Maputo.
They also told the paper they had taken the children with the blessing of their parents, adding that they had written declarations to this effect.
Parents of the children had paid transport and food allowances for the children ranging between $100 and $150.
Among the allegedly trafficked children were two girls who the arrested said were to continue with their Islamic studies at a centre in Maputo.
Pedro Jemusse, police spokesperson in Manica province, said poor parents could have been coerced into agreement for the trafficking of their children after promises of financial gains.
Children recruited from various districts
Police investigations were continuing into the alleged trafficking of the children who were currently in police custody in Chimoio city.
The children had been recruited from various districts, the police said.
Twenty-four of the children were destined for Maputo province while 16 of them were to be transported for the northwestern province of Tete.
Zamane Juma, of Mossuril district in Nampula, Icra Mohamad, of Pemba in Cabo Delgado, told the paper they had been authorised by their parents to travel to Maputo and Tete respectively.
Amade Bilaule said it was not the first time they had transported a large group of children for Islamic studies in Maputo and Tete province, adding that in 1999 they transported 55 children who were currently based at a Maputo Islamic centre.
- SAPA
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