Smuggled Boys Await Return to Families

Dozens of Pakistani children who had been smuggled to the United Arab Emirates to work as jockeys in camel races have returned home, an official said.

The 86 children, some as young as 4, had been in the United Arab Emirates for three to seven years, said Faiza Asghar, an advisor on child rights issues with the Punjab provincial government in eastern Pakistan.

The boys, with their identity cards hanging from their necks, arrived in the provincial capital, Lahore, on a flight from Abu Dhabi and were driven to a government shelter, Asghar said. The government will attempt to reunite them with their families.