Children trafficked to Nepal monastery with the promise of better education

Over the last four years, 150 children from Arunachal Pradesh have been trafficked to Phuntsok Choeling monastery in Kathmandu with the promise of a better education. As recently as last month, six of the 150 children have been reported missing from the monastery, located in Swayambhu.

Norbu Wangdi, the alleged child trafficker, with some of the children sent to the monastery

Cruel treatment at monastery

The children were reported to have gone missing after one of them telephoned their parents in Arunachal, in the first week of February 2010, complaining about the cruel treatement meted out to them at the monastery.

Norbu Wangdi, one of the alleged child-traffickers involved in this Indo-Nepal nexus had alsou00a0 kept the parents informed about their children from time to time. Parents of the six missing children registered a complaint with the Arunachal state police on March 13. The children were from Bana, a village in East Kameng and Nafra in West Kameng.

In an exclusive recorded conversation available with Sunday MiD Day, Wangdi, the alleged child-trafficker admitted, "I have been sending children to Kathmandu since the year 2006. Till date, I have sent 70 children to the monastery. My only duty was to hand them over to the monastery.

I was not concerned with their daily activities in the monastery."

"There are as many as 150 children from Arunachal in the monastery. Two other Indians Chhupa and Penadupha (a state government official) are also working for the monastery and with their channels, many children have reached the monastery," Wangdi said in the video.

Pau Dabo, father of B K Dabo, a 10 year-old who went missing, said, "They told us that our children will get a better education and that they (officials at the monastery) will teach them English, so that they can get better jobs. But they cheated us. We tried our best to hunt them but failed and reported the matter to the local SP."

Primary investigations

	The Other Side
	Sunday MiD DAYu00a0 contacted officials at the Phuntsok Choeling Monastery who refused to comment on the issue. They also denied having any connections with the Dalai Lama group. Read Next Story Hai dum › Trending Stories Latest Photos Latest Videos Latest Web Stories ADVERTISEMENT Mid-Day Fast ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT