[Stop-traffic] News/Saudi Arabia: Embassy to repatriate Afghan teens illegally brought to Kingdom

[Melanie Orhant]

Embassy to repatriate Afghan teens illegally brought to Kingdom
By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan
The Arab News (Saudi Arabia), October 24, 2003
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=34091

Excerpt:

RIYADH, 24 October 2003 — More than 208 Afghan children allegedly 
trafficked to Saudi Arabia over the past few years will be 
repatriated within the next few days, according to Syed Muhammad Nabi 
Fatmi, first secretary at the Afghanistan Embassy.

...

“A large number of teenage Afghans have been brought to Saudi Arabia 
by certain unscrupulous elements during the past few years without 
the knowledge of relevant government agencies,” said Fatmi. He quoted 
the Afghan minister for social affairs as saying, “42 children were 
sent back to Afghanistan from Jeddah last week.” Some of the 
children, who have already arrived in Kabul, are now in an orphanage 
run by the Afghan Social Affairs Ministry.

...

According to UNICEF, since early this year at least 80 children have 
been abducted, apparently to be trafficked to Iran and Pakistan. 
UNICEF has called for intervention by Interior Minister Ali Ahmad 
Jalali.