Mexican authorities rescued 11 minors working at a sugar cane farm reportedly under abusive conditions, police said.
They were aged 13 to 17 and authorities are investigating whether they had been abducted and administered drugs by a criminal gang to keep them docile and working at the farm in central Morelos state.
A 69-year man who said he was a foreman at the farm was arrested, a statement from the Interior Ministry said.
Police made the discovery yesterday thanks to a tip from a woman who reported her 14 year old son missing over the weekend. He was among the youths who were freed.
UNICEF estimates that in Mexico some 3.6 million children and adolescents are working. That is 12.5 percent of Mexicans in the 5-17 age bracket.
The state-run National Statistics and Geography Institute says 44 percent of the children who work do not get paid anything.
