Flesh trade flourishing in garb of spa centres

The flesh trade racket has allegedly been flourishing in the holy city in the garb of spa and massage centres if recent police raids are anything to go by. As many as eight spa centres and hotels were raided by the police in the last three months during which several persons were arrested and women, including foreign nationals, especially girls from Thailand, were rescued from spots.

In one such instance, two Thailand girls jumped from a spa centre located on the fifth floor of a hotel situated near the interstate bus terminus here. They jumped to the third floor of a nearby building. Both were seriously injured and received multiple fractures.

The police had got specific information that the owner and manager of the spa centre were allegedly running a prostitution racket. A case under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was registered against them. The incident had occurred in the mid-July this year.

In another incident, the Civil Lines police recently raided two hotels and arrested girls involved in prostitution. Managers of both the hotels were also arrested by the police.The police investigations had revealed that in some cases girls were lured, duped and pushed into the flesh trade by traffickers under the garb of spa centres and massage parlours while for some girls it was matter of livelihood.

Last year too, the police had rescued at least seven Thailand girls from such centres while five of them were deported to their native country. According to finding of the probe, these girls were lured for work and later pushed into flesh trade after taking their passports.

Past several years have witnessed mushrooming of illegal spa centres not only in the posh localities, but also in other parts of the city including Chheharta and on the Sultanwind road. However, in the absence of any checks by the authorities concerned, these centres have allegedly turned into prostitution dens.