ISLAMABAD: A van smuggling 17 Afghan children from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) into Islamabad and Rawalpindi was impounded, and the driver arrested on Monday.

The vehicle was stopped at at the Khairabad checkpost on the Attock bridge where authorities discovered the license plate number was fake.

The Attock Station House Officer (SHO) revealed that the driver of the vehicle had no national identity card in his possession. Upon further investigation, authorities discovered the 17 Afghan children aged 12-20 in the van.

According to DawnNews, the smuggled children were allegedly being trafficked into Punjab for work purposes.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested and the children were temporarily moved to jail while police investigated the matter further.

Read more: Over 600,000 registered Afghan refugees in KP

Pakistan has a poor track record with regards to human trafficking, and bonded labour.

On Feb 19, 2015 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had said that criminal networks operating in Pakistan generated about $927 million through human trafficking and migrant smuggling in 2013.

Quoting the interior ministry, the UNODC said that over 1,000 criminal networks in the country were involved in the illegal trade.

The research carried out by UNODC found that a bulk of ‘illegal migration’ occurred from Punjab, particularly from Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Sialkot. The cities with highest numbers of interceptions in the country were Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Peshawar.

Although bonded labor has been outlawed in Pakistan and other affected countries in line with UN conventions on human rights, according to the Global Slavery Index (GSI) 2,058,200 people are still enslaved in Pakistan and the country ranks third on the index.

Founder of the Walk Free Foundation (which helped launch the GSI), Nick Grono, said in 2013: “What modern slavery is is a situation that reflects all of the characteristics of slavery of past centuries ... People are controlled by violence. They are tricked or they are forced into jobs or situations where they are economically exploited. They live on no pay or base subsistence pay and they’re not free to leave.”

Read more: Afghan refugee concerns

Afghan refugees in Pakistan, especially undocumented illegals are vulnerable to exploitation by individuals in positions of power. While there are over 600,000 registered refugees in KP, there are many more that remain unregistered.