THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘personal’ link of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram pages of ‘Locanto’, a classified web portal, provide a wide platform for discussions and transactions of flesh trade activities.
In Thiruvananthapuram page, a post was made on Saturday seeking partners from areas, including Technopark. Over a 100 such threads have been posted in a week’s time and the discussions and comments are still live.
The two minor girls from Bengaluru were reportedly brought here by Leneesh Mathew (female), a professional in Bengaluru. Sources said, a total of Rs 4 lakh was sought by the racketeers when the police, in the guise of customers, chatted with them over phone.
Abdul Khader, the kingpin, showed Resmi’s picture and sought Rs 80,000 for one night. When the police started bargaining, it was fixed at Rs 65,000. As most customers demanded virgins, minor girls were trafficked from other states. The conversation was made through ‘Locanto’.
According to S Sreejith, IGP (Crime), the police couldn’t ban the web portal as it is being operated internationally. “It’s an international classified portal. We can’t do anything on the portal. We can act only by verifying the credentials of those who posted such obscene comments and we will continue to do so,” he said.
The FB page,’Kochu Sundarikal’ was under watch over the last six months and assistance of Facebook management was sought to check the antecedents of the culprits. “Normally, they don’t extend support due to the cultural difference between the US and our country, but as it is a case of ‘child pornography’ they gave in and we zeroed in on the culprits,” he said.
The accused were arrested under IT Act and Human Trafficking Act.