Banka, Aug. 30: The police, with the help of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, have recovered 10 boys on Monday afternoon, who were on their way to join the rebels to earn a livelihood.

The boys, aged between eight and 18, from Katoria block in the district were on their way to Patna via Jhajha to join the rebel camp, Banka superintendent of police (SP) Shyam Kumar told The Telegraph. He said the boys would have joined the Bal Dasta (the children squad of the Maoists).

After being rescued and subsequently freed, the boys said the Maoists, who had visited their hamlet a few days ago, were giving them jobs.

“After receiving a tip-off, Monoranjan Bharti, the station house officer (SHO) of the Belhar police station and Rakesh Kumar, the assistant commandant of 131 battalion of CRPF conducted raids and subsequently recovered the 10 teenaged boys from Belhar-Jhajha road on August 29,” the SP said.

There have been a number of incidents where the police have recovered child labourers but this seems to be the first such incident in recent memory where 10 tribal boys, who were on their way to join the rebel camp to earn a living, were rescued and subsequently freed, a senior police officer pointed out.

A couple of months ago, an intelligence report had revealed that the rebels were hiring a large number of girls and boys from the hinterlands of the districts in eastern Bihar.

SHO Bharti told The Telegraph that the boys were waiting on the roadside for a Maoist vehicle to arrive.

“The boys, who hail from Kushidol village in Katoria block, were lured by the Maoists of providing them good jobs,” Bharti said.

One of the rescued boys said: “Around a week ago, three people — Dinesh, Pokon and Ramesh from Jhajha block in Jamui district — visited our village. They expressed concern over the condition in which we live and assured us of providing good jobs.”

The boys said, the men came again on August 26 and offered them a job with a daily remuneration of Rs 170 along with food.

However, they did not mention the nature of the job.

“They urged us to leave the village because there was no job opportunity. They also told us that before joining the job we would have to undergo special training in Patna. They asked us to wait on the Belhar-Jhajha road side for a vehicle on the afternoon of August 29,” another rescued boy told the police.

The boys have been sent back to their village. “We have started investigations in the case and are looking to nab the middlemen,” a police officer said, adding that Dinesh, Ramesh and Pokon were new names for the police in the area.

“We have to investigate minutely because the rebels told the boys to join the training camp in Patna,” he said.

Bharti added that the boys were joining the rebel camps on their own and the parents were ignorant about it.

Back in the poverty-ravaged village, however, there was not much change after the return of the boys.

“What future do these boys have? Not only is there any job opportunity, there is no scope for agriculture in the village,” a villager said, requesting anonymity.

The parents of the boys were afraid and refused to speak anything on the episode. One of the rescued boys said: “The police should arrange some job for us because we had an offer, which they have snatched.”

Banka district administration, meanwhile, is yet to come out of the incident.

Not a single official was available for comment.

One of the officials said the matter was for the police to investigate and they had nothing to do in it.