Star City contacted those who had announced missing children in three national dailies -- Prothom Alo, Daily Ittefaq and Daily Inqilab -- in March 2005, and a survey conducted showed only 15 of 38 missing children reported were traced.

Although many attempts were made 13 who made the announcements could not be contacted and around 10 children are yet to be found.

Workers of various organisations trying to curb trafficking said the numbers of missing cases are higher in reality, as all incidents are not reported in the media. They are convinced that at least 70 percent of missing children become victims of trafficking.

"According to the Indicator for quarterly activities, 656 children and women went missing from all parts of the country in 2004 and 126 women and children in first three months of 2005," said Pranab Kumar Nandi, information and communication officer of the Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC), Bangladesh. "What is reported is a glimpse of the total numbers missing. In some cases announcements for missing children are not brought to light because of social or other restraints," he said.

A summary of the analysis of returnees' data by ATSEC Bangladesh showed that the highest number of trafficking incidents take place in Jessore with Dhaka following.

The Star City survey indicated that domestic helps rated high in the number of missing children. Jolly, Anjana, Shopna, Bubbly, Sheuli, Momena, Tashu and others were said to have left their employers' house on their own and could not be found until now.

"I tried my best to trace her and sought RAB's assistance too," said Tariqul Bari, 10-year-old Momena Khatun's employer. "I hope the girl is safe and has not been ensnared by a pimp," he said.

Pimps and others in the trafficking business coax children, especially home helps to leave home. Shopna, a 15year-old from Mirpur was cajoled to leave her employer's house for better prospects at a garments factory.

At least 36 percent of reported trafficked victims according to ATSEC's data were subjected to deception by pimps. "There are cases where pimps marry the girls off and later sell them for sex," Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) told Star City on an earlier occasion.

In a few cases, children leave home to pursue adventure but in certain cases they cannot make it back. "We wonder whether the boy is alive. His parents are devastated in not finding him," said Rahima Majumdar, aunt of Mohammed Iqbal who left his madrassa dormitory on February 25 with a note saying he did not like to study.

The missing children who are trafficked mostly end up in the sex-trade, servitude or bonded labour like 'camel jockeys', believe most of the development workers. Some missing children fall victim to the beggar racket as in the case of Kulsum, an 11-year-old domestic help who was missing from Bashabo.

"My father-in-law spotted her begging in front of a mosque in the neighbouring area. Her head was shaven and she was in a very bad shape," said Abdus Samad, her employer. He said the leader of the gang of beggars tried to convince that Kulsum was her own daughter but succumbed to threats of involving the police.

Though cross border trafficking is believed to be major issue, experts said cases of internal trafficking are higher. At least 61 percent of 600 trafficked victims according to ATSEC were trafficked within the country. "They are trafficked from village to town, and from small towns to big cities," said Pranab Nandi.

Rescued children are sometimes discarded by their parents, said development workers "Boys are repatriated easily if we can trace their roots but families refuse to accept rescued girls," said Salma Ali. This, she said, encourages trafficking of girls more.

Unless awareness is created among the community of the depth of such crimes, it would be a tedious task to curb these offences, she added.