Delhi Police has arrested a couple and their six associates who ran a vast network human trafficking and prostitution racket in the red light area of G B Road
Afaq Hussain, 50, and his wife Saira Begum, 45 who ran the operations are suspected to have trafficked more than 5,000 girls from Nepal and remote areas of West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra and other states.
“The husband-wife duo Afaq Hussain and Saira Begum were identified as such operators who controlled everything closely through their handpicked Kotha managers known as ‘Nayikas’ and musclemen,” said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).
Reportedly, The couple had managed to build an empire worth Rs 100 crore till date. They allegedly brought girls for Rs 50,000 and sold them for up to Rs 2 lakh. The younger the girls, the higher was the price quote.
“The young girls are thrashed, confined in hidden cells, intoxicated and kept starved for many days to force them in sex trade. The Kotha operators recovered monthly 8-10 per cent of the amount as well as interest on it which was spent on buying them,” said Yadav.
Saira Begum who is originally from Andhra Pradesh, use to be sex worker herself. She has been arrested in seven cases since 1990. She met Hussain at a brothel and married him in 1999.
“In order to curb ghastly activities of this syndicate of human trafficking and prostitution operating at G B Road, Crime Branch has launched massive action and has invoked provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against them for the first time ever,” said Yadav.
