The Nepali Embassy in New Delhi wrote to the External Affairs Ministry of India on Monday, asking it to investigate reports of Nepali Children being trafficked to the United Kingdom as domestic help from India.

The diplomatic move from the embassy comes after The Sun, a British tabloid, reported two weeks ago that child survivors of the April earthquake were being sold to British families for a few thousand pounds to work as domestic slaves with Jalandhar in Punjab as the transit point.

“This is a sensitive issue and we have requested the Foreign Ministry [of India] to start an investigation to dig out truth,” said Counsellor SSP Yadav Khanal at the Nepali Embassy in Delhi. However, the Jalandhar Police unit has said it has not received any complaint or information about the trafficking of Nepali children. 

The Sun had reported that boys and girls as young as 10 were being sold for just £5,250 by gangs operating in India and that the network is preying on the children of Nepali refugees and destitute Indian families.

Home Secretary of the UK Theresa May has already urged the National Crime Agency to investigate the findings.