HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police, in coordination with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and SOT sleuths, arrested 18 members of a gang that lured or forced 14,190 women into prostitution over several years. According to police, the gang was responsible for about 70 per cent of trafficking and prostitution cases in the city.
Among those arrested was Adeem, the kingpin and Rakesh, manager of a prominent hotel in Hyderabad.
The other arrested were identifed as Sameer, Harbindhar Kaur, Salman Khan, Abdul Kareem, Jogeshwar Rao, Saibabu Goud, Prasad, Afsar, Gangadhar, Fayaz, Vishnu, Sudheer, Rishi, Srinivas, Abdul Rafeeq and Sarbeshwar.
Giving details, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Raveendra said on Tuesday that each of the 18 members was connected to hundreds of girls. Of the 14,190 victims, a majority were from West Bengal, followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra. Some of the victims were from Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Russia. There are 37 cases registered against the gang members, Raveendra said.
“The gang used to share the proceeds with the victims on a 70:30 ratio,” he said. Police also found that the gang was influencing the victims and clients with MDMA and other drugs.
“Their mode of communication was WhatsApp groups and websites. They were running call centres in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. When it came to girls from abroad, the gang used to share pictures of the victims with the client. After the client agreed, flight tickets used to be booked and hotel rooms reserved,” Raveendra said.
He said that the case came to light when Vivek and Irfan were taken into custody for human trafficking at Sun City in mid-November. “A closer look at the case led to Adeem and then we realised the extent of the case,” Raveendra said. The gang used to accept payments in cash and online platforms. Some of the gang members were also working as staff in a few hotels.