With cases of flesh trade on the rise, the police is keeping an eye on the mushrooming of short-stay facilities, massage parlours and unisex salons in Kozhikode city. The police plan to expose such unregistered business ventures that are being used as a cover for illegal activities.
Police officials from various city stations said their efforts were to reduce incidents of sex trafficking and ensure the safety of women who were being exploited by unidentified gangs for money.
“In a recent incident, a unisex beauty parlour near Kuthiravattam was found to be the hideout of a sex racket. It was the intervention of the police that rescued the exploited women,” said a sub inspector in the city. He said the police gave top priority to the rescue of victims by safeguarding their identity apart from arresting all those who sexually assaulted them.
Officers from the Kozhikode Medical College police station said they rescued two women during a raid on Friday at a rented facility at Kottuli. One of them was a native of Kolkata, who was forced into the sex trade by various inter-state rackets. Five persons, including a woman who led the operations, were arrested following the flash inspection, they said.
A few months ago, a gang of five persons was netted by the Medical College police from Paroppadi. Three of them were women who were allegedly forced into the flesh trade by a Kerala-based gang.
According to police sources, efforts were also on, with the help of the Kozhikode Corporation, to verify the licence of all suspected firms in the city and the details of people working there. The owners of rented facilities would be asked to ensure proper supervision of leased properties to avoid their possible misuse, they said.
