Haiti: US citizens held for 'child trafficking'

Port-au-Prince, Feb 1: Ten suspected child traffickers were netted by the police, said authorities of earthquake-devastated Haiti on Sunday, Jan 31.

Ten members of members of a United States charity group were arrested when they were about to enter the Dominican Republic with 33 children, aged between two months to 14 years, without proper paper work.

The ten people, including five men and five women, holding American passports were detained on Friday, Jan 29.

The US embassy in Haiti confirmed the detention of its citizens for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."

The detainees are reportedly part of Idaho-based charity New Life Children's Refuge. They claim that they were only helping the children who have lost their parents in the disaster.

However, most of the children reportedly informed the authorities that their parents are alive.

Besides this, the suspects had no documents to support their claims.

Disturbing rise in child smuggling cases hit the headlines in the recent past as child traffickers find it easy to prey on children amid the choas in the Caribbean nation.

If the suspects are declared guilty of child trafficking, America's relief work in the nation will take a huge blow.

Interestingly, Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez had earlier alleged that the United States is occupying Haiti in the name of humanitarian relief and aid.

OneIndia News