Cuttack, Dec. 30: Police on Wednesday formed 10 special teams to rescue missing children.

The teams, consisting of nearly 100 cops, will carry out the second phase of operations Smile and Muskan from January 1.

Senior officials of CID crime branch said operation Smile phase II would be conducted from January 1 to 15 to rescue missing children in Odisha while operation Muskan would be conducted from January 15 to 31 to trace children from the state in other parts of the country.

Official sources said that 1,363 of 4,444 missing children were traced in 2012. In 2013, out of 5,549 missing kids, 2,381 were traced.

"We have asked our teams to be more cautious and deal with children carefully as they might be under stress or subjected to acute physical torture," said K.B. Singh, director general of police.

Singh said that at present over 2,500 children are missing from Odisha. Over 1,000 kids were rescued in the first phase of operations Smile launched in January and Muskan in Jul this year.

Senior officials said the special teams had been asked to upload the pictures of the missing children on a special WhatsApp number of the CID crime branch for better coordination.

"Our focus is on identifying and rescuing children who have been engaged in illegal trades, including begging and other hazardous works, outside Odisha," said B.K. Sharma, additional director general of police (crime branch).

Sharma said the teams have been asked to keep surveillance at various railway stations, bus stands, religious institutions, ashrams and other places.

Operation Smile, so far, has united nearly 28,000 children with their families across the country. Earlier, 9,146 children were rescued under the operation Smile and 1,972 were found under operation Muskan across India.

Official sources said over 2.3 lakh children have been reported missing across India in the past three years.

Senior officials of CID crime branch revealed that most of the children, who have gone missing from Odisha, have been illegally trafficked to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telengana, Maharastra and New Delhi.

The teams have been asked to take help of the women and child welfare department and local police stations in rescue operations outside Odisha.