Port-au-Prince, Feb 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Ten US missionaries who tried to take 33 children out of Haiti, have been charged with child kidnapping. They have also been charged with criminal association for illegally trying to take children out of the earthquake stricken Haiti. The investigators said that the US missionaries didn’t have the necessary documentation, nor the permissions to take the children out of Haiti. If they are convicted and it remains to be seen what punishment they would get. They might get prison terms of 15 years too. However the US missionaries are saying in their defense, that they were not aware of this breach of law until they were detained.

It may be recalled that the Americans tried to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic, but they were not allowed to do so. Some of the Americans were also members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. However in their defense, the missionaries said that they were just trying to help the children, by aiding them to start life afresh. Central Valley’s pastor, Clint Henry, reinforced this point again on Monday, saying the group’s intentions were “upright and pure.” He said that the intention was just to go down and try to help the orphaned children.