Trafficking rings in Hyderabad exploit vulnerable women from Bangladesh

Traffickers exploit women facing financial hardships by promising them jobs in India. Once these women enter the country illegally, they are forced into illegal activities. Their undocumented status prevents them from seeking help from the police, creating an advantage for the organisers

Hyderabad: With human trafficking and prostitution cases involving women from Bangladesh getting reported frequently in Hyderabad, the central law enforcement agencies are now focusing on the financial transactions and the network that is facilitating illegal entry of such victims into India.

In the last few months, the Hyderabad Police in coordination with counter-intelligence unit of Telangana Police have, busted several rackets involving human trafficking of women from Bangladesh for their exploitation. Last month, the Hyderabad Police had raided two brothels at Chaderghat and Khairatabad and caught 18 illegal migrants who had crossed over into the country from Bangladesh.

---

The illegal migrants had managed to form a network in coordination with the local people in Telangana and were successfully organising prostitution racket by bringing women from Bangladesh.

Investigators are not puzzled by the rescue of Bangladeshi women from brothel houses in the country, as this has been ongoing for years. The significant development is the arrest of 18 Bangladeshis who were running the prostitution racket within the city for more than two months until the intelligence agencies were tipped-off.

An official with the Intelligence Department said that the Indo-Bangladesh border is porous and touts on Bangladesh side help people enter India illegally. “Due to poverty, men, women and children crossover into India illegally and work at some or the other place posing as Bengalis until they are caught. They spend a few thousand to obtain Indian identity documents in West Bengal,” said the official.

Prostitution syndicates in both countries are operating in close collaboration. According to a police official from the city’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, traffickers exploit women facing financial hardships by promising them jobs in India. Once these women enter the country illegally, they are forced into illegal activities. Their undocumented status prevents them from seeking help from the police, creating an advantage for the organisers.

The central law enforcement agencies are now tracking down all those who helped the illegal migrants in finding shelters, facilitation their illegal activities, entering into the country, transfer of money to Bangladesh through suspected illegal channels and obtaining the Indian identity documents.

“It is a sophisticated network and can be used to pump in drugs, disturb law and order in India and even carry out other subversive activities. A detailed and professional investigation is needed so the National Investigation Agency and other central LEA are probing the cases,” said an official of Hyderabad Police.