Kolkata: The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Kolkata Police Detective Department (DD) rescued nine minor girls and two women from a brothel in Burtolla and arrested six persons, including two brothel owners and four traffickers.
Acting on a tip-off, AHTU officials raided a house at 4/A, Gulu Ostagar Lane in Burtolla on Wednesday, where they found nine recently trafficked minor girls. Two more women, also victims of trafficking, were rescued during the operation.
Police said a couple, identified as Saraswati Banerjee and Amit Banerjee, had been running a prostitution racket, with traffickers supplying the victims.
Four traffickers were arrested during the probe—Suman Haldar of Dholahat in South 24-Parganas, Puja Mistry of Dum Dum and Dip Chatterjee and Akash Chowdhury of Basudevpur Shyamnagar in North 24-Parganas.
Investigators suspect the accused were planning to traffic the girls and women elsewhere. The six arrested are being interrogated to ascertain if others are involved in the racket.
The rescued girls and women have been sent to a shelter home. Police are contacting their families and gathering information to verify whether the accused are linked to other recent human trafficking cases.