Navi Mumbai: Cops bust online sex racket; rescue three women

Officers from the Mumbai Crime Branch's anti-human trafficking unit (ATHU) busted an online trafficking racket, arrested two men and rescued three women at Vashi, Navi Mumbai. According to a report by The Times of India, following a complaint by Yuva Sahayog Sansthan, a Thane-based NGO, the police nabbed the culprits after laying a trap for them.

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According to police sources, the arrested accused, who were identified as Rajesh Yadav (23) and Dhirendra Yadav (24), both Jharkhand natives were operating the racket for two months through a website named Navi Mumbai Escort Services.

The rescued women, aged 22-24 years all hailed from West Bengal and were residing in Juhugaon, Vashi. Police say that a decoy was made to call the mobile numbers listed on the website, after which a meeting was arranged near NMMC hospital in sector-10, Vashi. Police personnel waiting nearby nabbed the two youth, who had arrived to the spot with the three women.

Both have been remanded to police custody till April 7 after being booked by under IPC sections 370 (1) for trafficking of persons using threat for exploitation and section 34 for common intention, along with PITA (Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act).