Kids smuggled to UAE as camel jockeys returned home

Twenty-two Pakistani boys aged between three and 12 who had been smuggled to the United Arab Emirates to work as camel race riders returned home today, and authorities were trying to trace their parents.

South Asian boys, mostly from Pakistan, are illegally trafficked to the Gulf to take part in the hazardous sport. They are favoured as riders as they are light, but risk serious injury if they fall during a race. Rights groups say the riders are often kept as virtual slaves.