The 31 children traveling to Cote d’Ivoire who were turned back by Ivorian Police were actually on their way to visit their parents as they had claimed, Ghana Police investigators have confirmed. The children were “rescued” by the Ivorian International Police Organisation (Interpol) on suspicion that they were being trafficked. However a police said they have now been reunited with their families in the Western Region. Briefing newsmen in Accra yesterday, the Head of Interpol Ghana, Superintendent Frank Sammy Kwafio, said before reuniting the children with their families, a team of police investigators, including personnel of his unit, went to their hometowns Shama, Abrobeanu and Kafo Didzi to ascertain whether the children really came from those communities. As reported in the Ghanaian Times of August 31, the Ivorian Interpol intercepted a bus loaded with passengers, including the 31 children at one of the Ivorian borders on August 18 and informed Interpol Ghana. Ghanaian officials rescued the children and transported them to the Madina Social Welfare Centre in Accra, where they were lodged while the matter was investigated and arrangements made to reunite them with their families. Supt Kwofie said investigations revealed that it was the practice in Shama, Abrobeanu and Kafo Didzi areas, especially during holidays for children to cross the Ivorian border to visit especially their fathers working in that country as fishermen. Supt Kwafio noted that their meetings with some personnel of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union and transport organisations also confirmed that the children mostly travel to the Cote d’Ivoire to visit their fathers, especially during holidays. He said considering the rate at which children are trafficked, relatives of the children as well as their teachers were advised in future to write officially to request Interpol Ghana’s assistance for easy movement of the children. He said another revelation in the police findings was that most of the children lived with their grandparents who depend solely on the remittances of the fishermen in Cote d’Ivoire. Source: The Ghanaian Times