On human traffickers' trail, Mohali police arrest five, rescue 43

Mohali, March 2

The Mohali police have rescued 43 victims of human trafficking in the past few months. Five persons have been arrested in the case so far.

Sharing details here today, SSP Sandeep Kumar Garg said of late, the police recovered Rs 1.37 crore, USD 2,000, 530-gm gold and a Toyota Fortuner from the suspects. He said earlier, they had recovered Rs 2.13 crore in cash, 640-gm gold, four four-wheelers and seven luxury mobile phones from them.

The SSP said so far, the police had rescued 43 victims of human trafficking. They were dumped in Indonesia on the pretext of taking them to the USA. In the first batch, 33 victims were flown out of Indonesia and later 10 more were rescued.

He said they had 80 complaints made by the parents of the victims taken to Indonesia instead of the USA. They were starved and beaten at an undisclosed place under confinement in Indonesia and their family members were asked to cough up more money.

Garg said cases in this regard had been registered at the Kharar (Sadar) and Balongi police stations.

In view of the seriousness of the crime, SP Amandeep Singh Brar and DSP Gursher Singh, under the supervision of Inspector Shiv Kumar, incharge, CIA Staff, Mohali, conducted the investigation and arrested a total of five persons.