Three held for forcing women into sex trade in Dubai, Bahrain

MUMBAI: The city crime branch has arrested three persons, including a hotelier from Dubai, for offering women jobs abroad and then pushing them into prostitution.

The arrested persons-hotelier Faridul Haq Shah alias Tipu (55), and his two touts Kamal Anwar Shaikh (56) and Tinku Dinesh Raj (36)-have been booked under IPC sections of cheating, extortion, exploitation, and under Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. The police said that the trio has sent more than three dozen women to Dubai and Bahrain and sold them off.

The racket came to light only after a woman who was sent to Bahrain on a three months' visa to work in the kitchen of a hotel was pushed into prostitution. "As she refused to get into prostitution, the gang refused to release her passport and demanded Rs 2 lakh from her. The woman then got in touch with her mother, who paid the money and rescued her," said an officer.

After returning to India last week, the woman approached the police. "She got in touch with Kamal in June and he lured her with a vacancy in a hotel," said Ajay Sawant, senior inspector of anti-extortion cell.

The woman has told the police about the involvement of another person named Salim, who is a hotelier in Bahrain. She has said that he used to send her to various customers. "Salim would give digital cards to each of these girls and a target. Their target was to earn 20,000 dirhams (nearly Rs 4 lakh) in three months. "We raided the houses of the accused and seized several passports, photos and fresh applications," said Dilip Sawant, DCP (crime).