Rajasthan, India. Monday evening
Australian charity, The Grey Man, has conducted its first operation in India with its partner agency The Esther Benjamins Trust and FSI Worldwide resulting in the arrest of Kishan Mokhtan, a major trafficker of young children. Nepalese police have been searching for Moktan for the last four years. In this operation Grey Man provided an intelligence operative to assist the local team and he was withdrawn just prior to the arrest. The raid occurred on Moktan’s circus on Monday night. The Esther Benjamins Trust had 15 signed statements statements from girls whom he has trafficked in the past. ‘His small circus moved into Rajasthan for a festival last week and we were tipped off as to his whereabouts’ said EB Trust Director, Philip Holmes. Many Nepalese children are trafficked into Indian circuses where they are physically and sexually abused. John Curtis, a former special forces soldier and President of The Grey Man charity said ‘It was a good outcome but the problem will be to get Moktan extradited back to Nepal’ There is no extradition treaty between India and Nepal but hopefully something can be organised informally. Mr Curtis declined to comment on the role of The Grey Man operative in the operation but he did say that a Grey Man team was in India for a few weeks leading up to the arrest.
