Of the 199 alleged kidnappers caught by the Kerala police last year, 188 were from within the state. . Representational imageThiruvananthapuram: The alarming reports of child abductions in Kerala have often suggested a role of a begging mafia from other states but crime records data proves otherwise. Most of the people arrested in connection with kidnapping children belonged to Kerala.
Of the 199 alleged kidnappers caught by the Kerala police last year, 188 were from within the state. Of the others, six were from Tamil Nadu, two from West Bengal, two from Assam and one from Karnataka.
The data comes out amid several incidents of migrant laborers being targeted by mobs in various parts of the state on suspicion of their involvement in such crimes.
The Kerala police had registered 1,472 cases of missing children in 2017. Of the 1,774 children reported to be missing so far from the state, 1,725 have been found. The police are still looking for 49 children.
Most of the child missing cases were reported from Thiruvananthapuram rural.
Here's a geographical breakup of the cases registered by the police.
Thiruvananthapuram city - 62
Thiruvananthapuram rural - 149
Kollam city - 64
Kollam rural - 95
Alappuzha - 116
Pathanamthitta - 58
Kottayam - 64
Idukki - 72
Ernakulam city - 46
Ernakulam rural - 73
Thrissur city - 64
Thrissur rural - 78
Palakkad - 135
Malappuram - 69
Kozhikode city - 51
Kozhikode rural - 104
Wayanad - 47
Kannur - 73
Kasaragod - 43
Railway police - 9
Total - 1,472
