Bangladeshi sex workers’ trafficking racket busted in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force of Crime Branch arrested a couple allegedly involved in running a sex racket in Bhubaneswar leading to rescue of six Bangladeshi women here today.

The Crime Branch arrested Sheikh Ibrahim and wife Anjali aka ‘Didi’ from Danagohiri under Pipili police limits. The couple is allegedly the mastermind of the sex racket that was running from a rented accommodation at Ratha Road in Old Town area.

Later in the day, the Commissionerate Police raided a house located in Linagaraj police station area in Bhubaneswar and rescued the Bangladeshi women.

An official said the house owner was kept in dark about the identity of the Bangladeshi women when Ibrahim and Anjali took his house on rent. The couple is said to have brought the Bangladeshi women to Bhubaneswar on basis of forged Aadhaar Cards.

The official added the rescued Bangladeshi women were being questioned at an undisclosed location to elicit further details about the flesh trade.

Another official on condition of anonymity said after a Bangladeshi sex worker leveled rape allegation against a hotel staff, involvement of the couple in trafficking and running sex racket came to the fore. Since then the couple had been under the vigil of Crime Branch, the official added.