2 Ugandan women forced into sex work seek help on FB, rescued

The women were forced into the sex trade after their passports were confiscated by the suspects, police said

Two Ugandan women who were allegedly lured to India on the pretext of being offered employment, but were later pushed into sex work, were rescued by the police from a flat in southeast Delhi’s Tughlaqabad Extension, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday.

They were rescued after one of them reached out on Facebook to an NGO which alerted the police. (HT Photo)

Subsequently, police arrested two suspects on Wednesday, a woman from Tanzania and her Nigerian boyfriend, who allegedly lured the victims to India. They were booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and their respective embassies were informed, police said. The arrested man was identified as Osama Rayner. Police said both the suspects are in their 30s.

The women were forced into the sex trade after their passports were confiscated by the suspects. They were rescued after one of them reached out on Facebook to an NGO which alerted the police, said Rajesh Deo, deputy commissioner of police (South-east), on Wednesday.

An investigator associated with the case said that the arrested woman claimed that she underwent a similar ordeal three years agobefore she adopted the same path with Rayner, adding that they were verifying when the two arrived in India.

The police said they were verifying the woman’s claims and Rayner’s documents which he could not immediately furnish.

One of the victims, 27, told police that she arrived in India last December, while the second one, 24, arrived in April 2022.

“They were enticed to visit India on the pretext of being employed here. But when they landed here, they were taken to a flat in Tughlaqabad Extension where the suspects told them they spent ₹1.5 lakh each on their visas and flight tickets. The victims were told to pay ₹4.5 lakh each,” the DCP said.

When the victims said they were unable to pay any money, Rayner and the woman allegedly seized their passports. Later, they were forced into sex work, added the DCP. “The accused would use a dating app to scout for prospective clients. The earnings were kept by the accused,” said Deo.

According to the police, one of the victims came across a news clip in which the NGO, Manobal, was involved in rescuing a woman from Africa forced into sex work in Delhi recently.

“The victim found the NGO on Facebook and reached out to them for help. The NGO, in turn, sent us an email. We verified the information and carried out a rescue operation on Tuesday,” said the DCP. The two suspects were also nabbed and formally arrested on Wednesday.