Two arrested for trafficking 1,500 girls to Gulf countries, 26 rescued

A 52-year-old man hailing from Nepal and a 34-year-old resident of West Bengal have been arrested by the Crime Branch for trafficking girls from India and Nepal on the allurement of providing jobs in Gulf countries. All the victims were confined in dark rooms in the national Capital, police said.

While busting the international trafficking racket spread in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Dubai, Kuwait and Oman, police have rescued 26 women including 10 Indian and 16 Nepalese women. All rescued women are above 18, with most of them being married belonging to very poor backgrounds.

According to police, the kingpin, Shabin Shah, the 52-year-old Nepalese and his Indian lady associate Bidya Lama were running the racket since 2011 and till now they have sent around 1,500 women belonging to India and Nepal to Gulf countries illegally. 

Shah has a number of agents who are active in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kuwait, Dubai and India.

“The duo was using Delhi as the hub and transit point for this racket. Lama, who is the caretaker of the shelter house used for the confinement of victims have taken rented premises at Mahipalpur and Roopnagar areas. These houses are used for receiving, lodging and transferring women,” police said.

During the investigation, it was learnt that the trafficked women were kept in a dark room and were told that their departure to and employment in Dubai or other Gulf countries was confirmed and they will be sent from Delhi. 

After reaching Delhi, the accused informed them that they had to go to Dubai via Colombo, Sri Lanka on tourist Visas. They were also told that in Colombo they would have to stay for a few days and then they would go to Dubai. 

This was contrary to the earlier promise that they would be sent to Dubai from Delhi directly. He also demanded huge money for this and on the refusal by women, they were confined in a dark room as stated above. In the meanwhile, the accused got tourist visas online for the victims via Sri Lanka and again asked for a huge sum of money. 

It is worth mentioning that there is a strict provision in immigration rules of India and Nepal for grant of employment Visas for Gulf countries for illiterate and poor women, hence, agents preferred the Sri Lanka route and obtained tourist Visas for these women and avoided checking in India and prospective offloading, police said.