Couple to stand trial over bid to smuggle children

Dubai: An Indian couple will stand trial for smuggling children in the first ever case in the UAE under the new law on human trafficking. The Dubai Public Prosecution charged a 54-year-old man, A.K., and his 50-year-old wife, M.S., with violating the Federal Law No. 51 issued last year. They were caught trying to smuggle two Indian boys, ages 12 and 13 years, with forged passports. The couple was caught by a security official at the Dubai Airport last December as they were ready to board a plane to Paris.
Noticing the age difference, the official asked to see their passports. The couple confessed that the children belonged to families from an Indian village.
They also admitted that they agreed to escort the boys for nearly Dh70,000 (Indian Rs800,000) from India to Paris via Dubai.
Walid Al Faqai'i, a public prosecutor, said DNA tests confirmed the suspects are not the boys' biological parents. The boys also said the suspects are not their parents. They only saw them after a stranger handed them to the couple a few days before the incident, the boys said.
01/03/07 Bassam Za'za'/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2007