Gujarat: 53 child beggers rescued from Surat streets

Representative Image. File Photo

As many as 53 children forced into begging and ragpicking in Gujarat's Surat were rescued from the streets of the city and handed over to a welfare committee for rehabilitation, police told PTI on Tuesday.

According to the PTI report, a total of 30 teams of local police and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) were involved in identifying the child beggars in a month-long exercise.

These children were reportedly forced to beg on the city streets either by their parents, relatives, or caretakers, police said.

These children belonged to Gujarat, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Most of them begged or picked rags to earn a livelihood at the behest of their parents, while some were orphans, reported PTI. According to a police official, one of them was with a man unrelated to him.

As per the PTI report, the rescued children were handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for further action after completing the procedure under the Juvenile Justice Act.

Mundra customs seize Tramadol worth Rs 110 cr

The Customs department at Mundra port in Gujarat's Kutch district seized 68 lakh Tramadol tablets worth Rs 110 crore from two export containers destined for the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Niger, reported news agency PTI.

Tramadol has gained notoriety in recent times as the 'fighter drug' after it was reported that ISIS fighters consume it to stay awake for long hours, according to a PIB release on Monday.

Tramadol, an opioid pain medication, was notified as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act in 2018 and its export is restricted, reported PTI.

This seizure by Mundra Customs is among the largest seizures of Tramadol since it was notified under the NDPS Act, according to the release.

A total of around 68 lakh tablets of Tramadol with an international street price of around Rs 110 crore were recovered by the Mundra Customs officers during the examination, and follow-up searches are underway at Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Gandhidham, said the release.

The synthetic opioid drug is reportedly in high demand in African nations like Nigeria, Ghana, etc.

(With inputs from PTI)