Two years.
Alina had known Tau for two full years. During that time, they’d grown close. They’d talked every single day, pouring their hearts out to each other. As the months passed, friendship grew into familiarity, and then into something more.
That’s why it wasn’t a huge surprise when Tau asked Alina to marry him. It seemed like the logical next step in their 24-month relationship. He wanted to take her back to Nepal, where his family lived, to perform the ceremony and begin their new lives together. Excited and smitten, the 15-year-old girl agreed.
But now Alina was locked in a hotel room across the border. There was no warm welcome from his loving family, no fairytale wedding to herald a new chapter in her life. She’d spent the last two days locked in this cheap hotel room, trapped with Tau.
The boyfriend she’d known for the last two years had vanished. The 22-year-old acted nothing like the charming young man she’d gotten to know. It was clear that he didn’t care about Alina; he was only interested in one thing from her. And he took it whenever he wanted.
She hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Her family didn’t know their plans. Her phone didn’t work in Nepal. Tau wouldn’t let her out. After two years of building a relationship, could this really be her future?
Back home, Alina’s parents were panicking. Their daughter was responsible and diligent. She’d even dropped out of school to help provide for her family, working as a tailor to supplement the meagre living her father made farming. It wasn’t like her to disappear overnight.
The worried couple was desperate and took the only action they knew: they filed a missing person’s report with local police.
Officers immediately went to work, investigating Alina’s last-known whereabouts. A review of recent phone activity revealed several calls to a number across the border in Nepal. This break in the case also brought it to a screeching halt; if Alina had crossed the border, not only would her phone not work, she would be out of their jurisdiction.
That’s where we at Destiny Rescue came in.
Local police have an excellent relationship with our teams in Nepal. We’ve often helped them nab traffickers on both sides of the border, and they knew they could trust us to bridge the gap with Nepali authorities.
Less than six hours after receiving their request, we contacted the local police, opened an investigation, interrogated one of Tau’s friends and rescued Alina.
Tau was promptly arrested and taken to jail.
While we waited for her family to arrive, we brought Alina back to one of our safe houses and counselled her on how to spot traffickers like Tau in the future
Alina’s father arrived a short time later, relieved beyond words to see his daughter again and grateful for our help in rescuing her. Before taking Alina home, he took the time to press human trafficking charges against Tau. At the time of writing, Tau is behind bars awaiting further legal proceedings.
From the Dominican Republic to Thailand to the Philippines, our teams have become trusted resources to law enforcement agencies in the fight against human trafficking. The fruit of these efforts is nothing less than freedom for exploited children. Will you join this vital partnership? Fill out the form below to rescue a child today.
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Child Rescue Charitable Trust and Child Rescue Charitable Aid Trust are registered New Zealand charities. Separate returns for each charity are filed each year with Charities Services which is a NZ Government organisation under the Department of Internal Affairs.
Annual reports to Charities Services can be viewed here
Please note: Annual Reports on this website will refer to ‘Destiny Rescue’ – Child Rescue’s name in New Zealand until August 2017.