By Agencies

The North Goa Police on Friday busted a sex trade racket, rescued five Kenyan women, and arrested two men in connection.

Police said the arrested accused are traffickers who lured the Kenyan women to India on the promise of offering jobs in Goa’s hospitality industry but instead forced them into the flesh trade.

“We have rescued five ladies, who are of Kenyan nationality and we have arrested two accused, also from Kenya,” North Goa superintendent of police (SP) Nidhin Valsan said.

Speaking to the reporters, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jivba Dalvi said that young, educated, and vulnerable Kenyan women were falsely promised jobs in the hospitality industry by agents working on behalf of traffickers based in Goa.

After being brought to India, the traffickers seized the women’s passports and visas, forcing them into prostitution under threat of violence and debt, said the DSP.

Dalvi said that the women were forced to work in massage parlours and then forced into the flesh trade.

Police said accused Maria Dorcas alias Israelite, 28, and Wilkista Achista, 22, have been arrested under sections 370, 370 (A) 370 (3) r/w 34 IPC (human trafficking) and section 4,5,8 of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956.

One more accused is a Nigerian national who is absconding, said police.

The police received a tip-off from Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ) and an NGO working with victims of trafficking who informed them that women from Goa were being taken to cities like Bangalore for prostitution.

The racket, a close-knit group involving the trafficker duo Maria and Wilkista, operated largely online, leveraging escort websites to solicit clients. Victims were in a terrible condition — in an unknown country without their documents, they were pushed into commercial sexual exploitation. We are working with the victims so they go back home safely and participate in the prosecution,” Juliana Lohar, who works with ARZ, said.

The police have also launched legal action against the two hotels in Anjuna in North Goa, where the traffickers allegedly operated.