Trafficking racket busted; girl, 8 boys rescued

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The Mahim Police claimed to have busted a human trafficking racket after they arrested a couple on Friday who allegedly brought young girls and boys from Nepal and sent them to the Middle East for prostitution and other illegal activities.

The police also rescued eight boys and a minor girl reportedly brought to the city over a month back.

“We arrested one Farukh Khan (42) and his wife Ayesha Khatun (34), a Nepali national, on charges of kidnapping, trafficking a girl from a foreign country, purchasing a minor for prostitution, voluntarily causing hurt, etc. One of the youths had even paid over Rs 1.5 lakh for ‘a job’ in Saudi Arabia but wasn’t sent despite repeated requests. Any demand for return his money ended in a fight with the couple,” said inspector Vinay Kulkarni from Mahim police station.

“When the youth learnt the couple had brought more youths from Nepal and had locked them up in a rented room in Naya Nagar, Mahim, he informed the Nepali Shramik Mazdoor Sangh, a union of Nepali workers in the city. With Sangh’s co-operation, our team raided the house, nabbed the couple and rescued eight boys and a minor girl,” said Kulkarni.

“Ayesha, being a Nepali native herself, knew the vulnerability of the poor Nepali citizens back home. She would visit Nepal with her husband and select mostly young women to bring back to Mumbai. Promises like finding good grooms or good housekeeping jobs were made to their kin to persuade them to send the girls. Once here, she would arrange to send them to Saudi Arabia where the girls will be pushed into prostitution,” said Raj Thakur Thapa alias Master, the head of the Nepali Sangh.

“Similarly, she would bring boys promising them jobs of drivers or hotel workers but they would be sucked into illegal activities once they reach Middle Eastern countries. The girl she brought back with her this time had been married only for a day when her husband asked her to leave with Ayesha. For a month, she along with the boys was locked in the room. Besides being forced to do menial work, she had to also agree to sexual favours. This, whe she was not even sent to Saudi (Arabia),” said Thapa.

The police also seized 11 Nepali and Indian passports from the couple’s house. “The couple would also make fake passports to send youth to other countries who would often be caught at the international airport itself. Besides demanding Rs 40,000-50,000 from each Nepali youth, the couple would reportedly get around Rs 20,000 as commission from the Saudi Arabian ‘employers’ of these youth,” Thapa alleged.

Investigators said the couple claimed they had been doing this for the past ten years. (/www.indianexpress.com)