Human trafficking racket busted in Assam, network was spread across three states; two rescued
Human Trafficking: Assam's Guwahati Police has busted a major interstate human trafficking racket. Police have arrested four people associated with the racket. Along with this, the police have also rescued two minor girls.
It was a significant breakthrough for Assam's Guwahati Police as it busted a big-time human trafficking racket. According to a senior official, the police arrested four persons from Assam, Bihar, and West Bengal in connection with an interstate human trafficking racket. The police further rescued two minor girls and foiled an attempt to kidnap another.
Guwahati Police Commissioner Diganta Barah on Monday informed that an FIR was lodged by a woman at the Bhangagarh police station on June 29. In this, it was stated that the woman's daughter and another minor girl had been missing. She said in her complaint that her daughter was asking for a new mobile phone and went to her friend's house when she was refused. After this, both the girls went missing.
According to the commissioner of police, a team has been immediately set up to investigate to trace the girls. When this probe was going on, one man phoned the victim's brother and asked for Rs 30,000 against the release of his sister. The call was traced to Purnia in Bihar. A police team subsequently went from Bhangagarh to Purnia and caught the caller; after that, both girls were rescued.
The girls boarded a train to Delhi from where, subsequently, at the Guwahati Railway Station, they met a man who seemed agreeable to helping them, according to police officer Barah. He handed over the two girls to another couple at Basistha in Guwahati. With the addition of another woman hailing from Panjipara in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, they took the duo to Siliguri by bus before selling them off to another man in Bihar for Rs 1,10,000. They were then taken to Purnia and forced to work in a brothel in Rauta in Bihar.
He said the police arrested four people after getting sufficient evidence against the culprits. Investigators also found out that the woman from West Bengal was living with a couple from Guwahati and had planned to smuggle another girl to a brothel in Bihar. They informed the cops that the four accused were brought before a judicial magistrate, and their police remand was taken. According to the investigation, the case was found to be related to human trafficking, where girls are lured and sold to brothels.
