Sex racket busted in Navi Mumbai; two women held, one rescued

Thane: Police have busted a prostitution racket being operated at Taloja in Navi Mumbai and arrested two women, including a Bangladeshi national, officials said on Thursday.

During the operation conducted on Tuesday, the police also rescued a Bangladeshi woman, they said.

"The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) of the Navi Mumbai police received a tip-off that a sex racket was being operated from a house in a residential locality," senior police inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade of the cell said.

The police sent a decoy customer and raided the premises. The team found a woman, identified as Hasina Mushraf Khan (30), operating the racket. They also found that customers were asked to pay money digitally to Salia Safique Khan (39), he said, adding that both the women were later arrested.

While Hasina hails from Bangladesh, the other accused is from Kolkata, he said.

The rescued woman was sent to a correctional shelter at Chembur in Mumbai, the official added.

A case under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 143(2) (trafficking of person), 3(5) (common intention) and under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Passport (Entry into India) Act, and Foreigners Act has been registered against the duo at the Taloja police station.