A senior police official said Bihar had become a hub of human trafficking due to large scale poverty and illiteracy.

Officials in the social welfare department said that last year's devastating floods in the Kosi region had provided a golden opportunity to human traffickers to target poverty stricken people.

According to a report prepared by the state government along with NGOs, most children smuggled from the state end up as bonded labourers, domestic workers and employees at roadside restaurants or small textile units.

Most young girls are either forced to marry men from Punjab and Haryana or work in brothels.