Arunachal police rescue 51, including 47 children from trafficking racket, 5 arrested

Police in Arunachal Pradesh's Namsai have traced and rescued 51 people, including 47 children, in a child trafficking case, officials said on Sunday. The case involves allegations of the illegal procurement, trafficking and placement of children from vulnerable families.

Police said sustained investigation, field verification, and coordinated operations across districts and states helped raise the number of rescued children from 19 in the initial phase to 38, and now to 51 people, including four adults. They also arrested an alleged facilitator, identified as Ema Loyi of Kaba village in Namsai, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five.

According to Namsai SP Sange Thinley, the probe is being led by Namsai deputy SP Kengo Dirchi, the investigating officer, in coordination with the District Child Protection Unit, Namsai Child Welfare Committee, Child Helpline and other child protection agencies. "Statements of the traced and rescued children connected with the accused have been recorded before the Magistrate under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)," the SP said.

Thinley said police are examining financial transactions and the money trail in the case to establish the nature, purpose and extent of the monetary dealings, and to fix individual culpability. The investigation is focused on uncovering the entire network, from the parent or guardian level to intermediaries and the final recipients. Police have withheld the identities and personal details of the minors to protect their privacy, dignity and rights, and further operations are under way to trace any remaining victims and piece together the full chain of events, he added.

The investigation into the case registered at Namsai Police Station on August 17, 2026, began after a formal complaint by the District Child Welfare Committee about the illegal procurement and placement of minors from economically vulnerable families. In the initial crackdown, police rescued 19 children, most of them below eight years of age, from Mechuka in Shi-Yomi, Aalo in West Siang, Pasighat in East Siang, Naharlagun, Itanagar in the Itanagar Capital Region, and Longding. The first three people arrested in the case were female facilitators.

As tracing operations expanded across districts and into Assam and other places, the number of traced or rescued persons rose to 38, including 34 children and four adults. During that phase, police arrested a fourth main facilitator for her alleged role in transporting and illegally placing victims. Preliminary investigation found that the network targeted vulnerable families with promises of better education and upbringing. Police also detected financial transactions ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 per child between intermediaries and parents. Many of the rescued children had allegedly been placed as domestic help or made to work in hotels under these false promises.

So far, the case has led to the rescue of 51 people, including 47 children, and the arrest of five alleged facilitators. Police are continuing their investigation into the network, the money trail and the remaining links in the case.