Aizawl, May 14 (IANS): Twenty-three Nepali girls, who were victims of human trafficking, were rescued in Mizoram and handed over to Nepalese authorities, police said here on Tuesday.

The teenage girls were handed over to Nepal government officials on Friday through the border transit of Kakarbhitta, along West Bengal's Siliguri.

"Mizoram Police, the state's Social Welfare Department and NGOs handed over the victims to the officials of Nepal's Ministry of Women and Child Development," Aizawl District police chief Karthik Kashyap told IANS.

The victims were rescued by the Mizoram Police on April 24 from Champhi area that shares a border with Myanmar.

The government has alerted officials about the state becoming a "safe passage" for human trafficking and to keep a strict vigil over the illegal trans-border movement of people.

Another police official said that 20 Rohingya Muslim teenagers were rescued in Mizoram during the past three weeks. They are currently lodged in shelter homes.

"A middleman and a woman were arrested in connection with the trafficking of the Nepali and Rohingya Muslim young girls and boys," the official said.

"The human traffickers are reportedly using the route via Myanmar to traffic young girls and boys to the Gulf and Southeast Asian countries," he said.