Trafficking was rife in Nepal even before the earthquakes, with an estimated 12,000 Nepalese children trafficked to India every year, according to a 2001 International Labour Organisation study.

Activists said risks were much higher after the quakes when traffickers or “brokers” duped devastated families who had lost their homes and breadwinners to hand over their children with the promise of a monthly salary and a good job in India.

Yet the reality is very different. Girls and women not recruited into prostitution are sold as domestic slaves in India and other countries. Boys are taken into forced labour.

Saksena said authorities provided training for more than 4,000 people, including police inspector generals, district magistrates, railway police, border forces, child protection officers and shelter home staff.

This included examining suspected trafficking routes and destination points such as train stations, border check posts and interstate bus stations.

They also focused on how to identify suspected traffickers and the proper procedures after rescues and arrests.

“We tell them what to be alert for. People travelling with large numbers of children for example,” Saksena said in an interview, on Saturday, on the sidelines of an anti-human trafficking conference in the eastern town of Siliguri.