NEW DELHI – The Rachakonda police in Telangana have busted a traffickingring involving travel agents who allegedly sold women from coastaldistricts of Andhra Pradesh to Arab sheikhs in Gulf countries as sex slavesafter promising the women jobs there.
U Trimurthulu alias Murthy (32), M Tathaji alias Nani (26), P Dasu (30), GRama Rao (40) and S Murali (37), all natives of East Godavari and WestGodavari districts, were arrested by a special operations team (SOT) ofMalkajgiri police station on Friday, for running the ring on behalf of sixIndian travel agents in Dubai.
The police have constituted special teams to arrest the Dubai agents,including their kingpin Pothula Srinu Babu alias Dubai Sinu.
“The ring was busted following an investigation into the complaint lodgedby a woman victim with the Ghatkesar police on the city outskirts,”Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said.
According to the police, Dubai Sinu and his associates, who have beenworking as travel agents in Dubai, Muscat and other Gulf countries for thelast 10 years, have been luring married women from coastal Andhra districtsthrough their local agents to the Gulf countries promising them jobs asdomestic servants, cooks, caretakers, baby sitters, etc. They offered womensalary up to Rs 30,000 per month.
“Several innocent women, who got carried away by attractive offers, lefttheir families to Dubai, Muscat etc. After reaching there, Sinu and othershanded over them to local manpower agencies.
These agencies sold them to Arab sheikhs, who exploited them sexually andused them as sex slaves. The hapless women had no chance to return toIndia, as they realised that they were brought to the Gulf countries ontourist/visit visas and not job visas. Moreover, their passports and otherdocuments were seized by the local manpower agencies.
The agents thus made lakhs of rupees by selling innocent women to the Arabsheikhs,” the police commissioner said.
One of the victims who went to Dubai in February 2017 realised that DubaiSinu and his associates had cheated her. She refused to succumb to thepressures of manpower agencies to become a sex slave of the Arab Sheikhs.
A few days later, her husband also went to Dubai in search of work andfound his wife in a miserable condition. She told him that she was kept ina small room where several other Telugu women were also languishing andthat she was not given proper food.
“Her husband fought with Dubai Sinu for three months to send back his wife.With the help of his relatives and friends in his village in East Godavari,he managed to bring pressure on Dubai Sinu and subsequently, the couplereturned to India. Later, she lodged a complaint with the Ghatkesarpolice,” the commissioner said.
Investigations revealed that the agents had sent more than 100 women. Asper their confessions, there are at least 50 agents in East and WestGodavari districts who are running the trafficking ring, he said.