‘20 human trafficking suspects arrested in the first half of 2018’

Bahrain hosts a regional centre to curb human trafficking and combat similar crimes

Twenty people were arrested in the first half of this year for their alleged involvement in human trafficking, a senior Interior Ministry official revealed. The suspects were arrested by police for exploiting their victims, all of whom were female.

The number of victims rescued between January and June were 19, said the Acting Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Protection of Public Moral Values department at the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science, Lt Col Abdulwahab Rashid Abdulwahab. 

In 2017, 32 cases were reported, as 38 fell victim including 37 women and one man. Sixty-seven suspects including 34 women and 33 men were arrested in connection to the cases. A regional centre to curb human trafficking, training personnel and building capabilities to combat such crimes has been set up in Bahrain, he said.

“Since its establishment, there has been a large number of suspects who were referred to the Public Prosecution, in addition to individuals who were sentenced to jail terms by the court. “The department receives human-trafficking cases through the hotline 17718888; it continues efforts to fight this issues through various methods, including training personnel on how to examine the psychological and physical indications to identify victims and to gather enough information about countries that are considered a source for human trafficking,” he said.