Pithoragarh, Nov 9 (PTI) Three persons, including a Nepali, were arrested today on charges of trafficking a 17- year-old Nepalese girl from an area under the Jhoolaghat border outpost here in Uttarakhand, an official said.

Bunti and Sahil from Jammu and Raju Parki from Jalati village in Nepal's Darchula district were taken into custody by a team of the anti-human trafficking cell, said Brij Mohan Bahuguna, the cell's in-charge in Pithoragarh.

They were arrested after they could not answer why they were taking the girl along with them, he said, adding that apparently, the men had lured her on the pretext of marriage and were trafficking her.

The team's suspicion increased when the accused could not establish their relation with the girl. They have confessed that they were taking her to marry her off, Bahuguna claimed.

"We are investigating whether the teenager was being forced by the youths into immoral activities," he said.