11 child traffickers held in Delhi

Eleven members of a child-trafficking gang, including two women, have been arrested for kidnapping two children using the same modus operandi of abducting them in the presence of their family members, police said on Monday.

The children have been rescued safely and handed over to their families.

The first child, aged just seven months, was kidnapped on January 4 from Alipur in west Delhi, while a one-and-half-year old was abducted a week ago from Swaroop Nagar in north Delhi, police said.

"Shockingly, the children were kidnapped in the presence of their family members," Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Singh said.

"In both cases, two motorbike-riding members of a child-trafficking gang approached the family members and on finding an opportunity, they suddenly picked up the children and fled," the officer said.

Vijay, 45; Gaurav Bhupender Kumar Raghav, 38; Aanchal Jain, 32; Vikrant, 32; Rehan, 31; Rakesh, 30; Raju Paswan, 26; Hemant, 25; and Kundan, 22, were arrested along with their two women aides Poonam, 50, and Anita Jain, 32, from different places during the course of the investigation, the officer said.

"They had sold one of the children to a resident of Uttar Pradesh for Rs.2.1 lakh. The man, identified as Vikrant, has also been arrested," the officer added.