Dubai: In a shocking revelation, a Keralite woman who managed to escape from the clutches of a Dubai-based human trafficking and prostitution racket told investigators that the racketeers attempted to bury alive girls who refused to yield to their demands.
The confidential statement was given by a girl hailing from Poovathoor.
According her, she found herself trapped in a prostitution racket net after she flew to Dubai to work as housemaid. When she refused to obey the gang, she was pushed inside a room and locked without food for three days. The gang sent a client to her room, but when she begged him for help, the man returned without harassing her. Before leaving, he yelled at the gang members. Infuriated, they barged into the room and threatened to bury her alive in the desert. She was forced to cooperate with them out of fear, the victim said in her confidential statement.
She is the prime witness in the case investigated by the CBI.
Meanwhile, a girl hailing from Kazhakoottam in Thiruvananthapuram told the investigators that though she had complained to the Non-Resident Keralites' Affairs Department (NoRKA) about her sister who was smuggled into the Gulf by human traffickers in 2012, no action was taken by the authorities.
Initially, the racketeers demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh to release her, but after her sister approached the NoRKA and filed a police complaint, they were ready to let her go if the family was ready to pay them Rs 25,000 as the cost of her travel. The victim’s sibling sold her ornaments and handed over the money to the gang. Though they sent her to Mumbai on a flight, the racketeers tipped off the police that she was traveling with a fake passport. Upon her arrival in Mumbai, she was arrested by the police.
According to officials, twelve victims have managed to escape and return home during the past five years. However, only eight women came forward and recorded their statement.
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