Afghan provincial police announced on Wednesday that they had rescued 127 people from a suspected human‑trafficking ring in Nimroz province, where the group had planned to move the victims across the Iran border in an illicit operation.
Xinhua reported that the police, led by spokesman Mawlawi Gul Mohammad Qudrat, seized five vehicles used to transport the intended migrants and said they would not allow anyone to cross the border illegally. Qudrat warned that strict action would be taken against those involved in human trafficking.
According to the agency, many Afghans continue to leave the country illegally in search of employment abroad amid poverty and unemployment in the war‑torn nation. The 127 people rescued were among a cohort of citizens that the traffickers were attempting to displace through the border crossing near the Nimroz frontier.
Previous Xinhua coverage noted that police had also thwarted a plan to traffic 89 people last week and arrested three suspected traffickers in the same province, highlighting a continuing crackdown by local authorities on illegal border movements.
The Illicit border crossing has been a focus of Afghan security forces since the Taliban took control of the country, with local and national corps working to increase patrols and enforce tighter border controls. Officers described the operation as the result of a long‑standing intelligence effort to locate the trafficking network.
Activists and human‑rights observers have raised concerns about the safety of individuals caught in such operations, asking whether the rescued population has received adequate medical and legal assistance. The Afghan government, according to Xinhua, has pledged to provide support but has not yet released detailed plans for the victims’ care.
Independent confirmation of the rescue comes only from the Afghan police and the Chinese news agency Xinhua. No other international outlets have reported the incident, and the Afghan Ministry of Interior has not issued a separate statement. The operation shows the scope of the ongoing fight against human trafficking that critics say affects thousands of Afghans each year.
