A 12-year-old Bangladeshi boy, a suspected victim of human trafficking, has been found by India's Border Security Force (BSF) in a railway wagon at Petrapole in West Bengal, and handed over to Indian Railway police.

The boy, identified as Al Amin by BSF, was found sitting in an empty wagon at Zero Point of Integrated Check post of Petrapole near Bangladesh's Benapole on Saturday at about 6:40pm (Indian time) during checking of incoming empty wagons of a goods train, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

The boy, a resident of Elisha village in Bagherhat district, was apprehended, BSF said in a statement last night.

During questioning of the boy, it came out that a Bangladesh tout brought him to Benapole from his home town with the assurance of a job in Kolkata, the BSF statement said.

When he reached Benapole railway station, an unidentified woman put the boy into the empty wagon of a goods train returning to India and told him that this train will go to Kolkata.

The boy was not in possession of any item "and it seems that he has been trafficked for the purpose of child labour in India," according to the statement.

The BSF handed the boy over to the railway police at Bongaon station after completion of medical examination.