TURA: North Garo Hills police have arrested a trafficker from Assam and his local pimp, a woman from East Garo Hills, while they were attempting to push a teenage girl into the flesh trade.
The trafficking ring was allegedly led by a man from Goalpara identified as Khagrak Marak alias Rajan who would pick up the girls supplied by his local pimp, Icilina B Sangma of Insambal village in East Garo Hills.
The modus operandi of the gang would be to visit villages in the Garo Hills region during which the woman would try and lure away young girls with the promise of a better life in big cities. She would then hand over the victim to Khagrak Marak for a tidy sum of money.
On Friday, the accused woman went to Kharkutta village where her sister happened to reside and entered a house on the pretext of charging her home. She found a 12-year-old girl living in the rented accommodation of the house.
The girl was taken away from the house at 4 o’clock on Saturday morning by Icilina. Not finding the girl in the morning the house owner raised an alarm. She managed to contact the accused woman on the phone and demanded the child be brought back.
After initial denials she gave in when the house owner threatened to call police. She revealed that she was currently in Dudhnoi with the girl.
Woman activists with the help of local NGOs intercepted her at Dudhnoi town and rescued the teenager. She was handed over to police at Mendipathar town.
To nab the gang leader Khagrak Marak, police directed her to call him and ask him to Mendipathar to take possession of the girl. The unsuspecting Marak was nabbed on arrival in town.
During interrogation, the arrested duo revealed that they had previously trafficked two girls from the region. One of the girls was sent to Mumbai and the other to Delhi, revealed Khargrak and Icilina.
They also told the police that the girl who was sent to Delhi died in the city.
“We are verifying the claims and also trying to find out if more persons are involved in the trafficking group,” said North Garo Hills police chief Dalton P Marak.
Garo Hills, in recent times, is beginning to be a target for traffickers out to lure unsuspecting women and children into the flesh trade. Lack of awareness in the villages about dangers of trafficking and their modus operandi is a worrying factor for many.
