Maiti Nepal Adopts Face Recognition Technology to Track Human Traffickers

Maiti Nepal has adopted a mobile-based technology for tracking the girl traffickers active in Nepal-India border points.

The App called Khoji is developed by a software company based in the US called NowtRKit using the technology of FaceTagr. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology based initiative to counter and control human trafficking and protects the vulnerable populace from exploitation, according to Maiti Nepal.

Maiti Nepal had been doing surveillance on the border using the photo of suspects until recently. Now the officials of Maiti Nepal will carry a mobile that they will use to capture the face of the suspects. Then the images will be cross-checked with the thousands of records of criminals, missing women and children in the central server of Maiti Nepal. When a match is found, it informs the police as well. All this happens in a matter of seconds.

“The App is extremely useful for Border Surveillance Staff of Maiti Nepal intercepting women and children crossing the border. It will not only help us in preventing the girls and children trafficking but also finding the trafficked or missing persons,” said Anuradha Koirala, Chairperson of the organization.

She added that Maiti Nepal has been equipped with the latest technology which will enhance the capacity of the volunteers and they will be ahead of the criminals. Nowtrikit has provided smartphones with Khoji installed to the volunteers free of cost and trained them for using the technology.

“A web portal will also be built for the complaint reporting with an aim to shorten the complaint filing process and disseminate the information to all agencies working in preventing the human trafficking, including the police“, said Samir Panthi, Chief Executive Officer of Nowtrikit.

He said that the app costs US $10 million but it has been provided for free to Maiti Nepal. Also, Maiti Nepal is the first social organization in the world that uses technology-based approach to track criminals and missing girls and children.

The AI face recognition technology used in the app can not only identify the exact faces captured but it can also identify a person from his/her relatives since they to have similar faces. This can be helpful especially when there are no pictures of the victim.