The Rachakonda police in Telangana have busted a trafficking ring involving travel agents who allegedly sold women from coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh to Arab sheikhs in Gulf countries as sex slaves after promising the women jobs there.
U Trimurthulu alias Murthy (32), M Tathaji alias Nani (26), P Dasu (30), G Rama Rao (40) and S Murali (37), all natives of East Godavari and West Godavari districts, were arrested by a special operations team (SOT) of Malkajgiri police station on Friday, for running the ring on behalf of six Indian 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 lodged by 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 been working as travel agents in Dubai, Muscat and other Gulf countries for the last 10 years, have been luring married women from coastal Andhra districts through their local agents to the Gulf countries promising them jobs as domestic servants, cooks, caretakers, baby sitters, etc. They offered women salary up to Rs 30,000 per month.
“Several innocent women, who got carried away by attractive offers, left their families to Dubai, Muscat etc. After reaching there, Sinu and others handed over them to local manpower agencies. These agencies sold them to Arab sheikhs, who exploited them sexually and used them as sex slaves. The hapless women had no chance to return to India, as they realised that they were brought to the Gulf countries on tourist/visit visas and not job visas. Moreover, their passports and other documents were seized by the local manpower agencies. The agents thus made lakhs of rupees by selling innocent women to the Arab sheikhs,” the police commissioner said.
{{/usCountry}}“Several innocent women, who got carried away by attractive offers, left their families to Dubai, Muscat etc. After reaching there, Sinu and others handed over them to local manpower agencies. These agencies sold them to Arab sheikhs, who exploited them sexually and used them as sex slaves. The hapless women had no chance to return to India, as they realised that they were brought to the Gulf countries on tourist/visit visas and not job visas. Moreover, their passports and other documents were seized by the local manpower agencies. The agents thus made lakhs of rupees by selling innocent women to the Arab sheikhs,” the police commissioner said.
{{/usCountry}}One of the victims who went to Dubai in February 2017 realised that Dubai Sinu and his associates had cheated her. She refused to succumb to the pressures 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 and found his wife in a miserable condition. She told him that she was kept in a small room where several other Telugu women were also languishing and that 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 couple returned to India. Later, she lodged a complaint with the Ghatkesar police,” the commissioner said.
Investigations revealed that the agents had sent more than 100 women. As per their confessions, there are at least 50 agents in East and West Godavari districts who are running the trafficking ring, he said.