SP Umesh Gaonkar said that the rescue operation was carried out at two flats in Verna and Margao and seven persons – Reshma alias Sapna from Kolkatta, Mohd Gulab alias Haider from Bihar and Hareesh, Rahul Sonu, Kumar Devgadi and Pramod Kumar, all four hailing from Karnataka besides a local senior citizen Julie Dias were arrested.
It was on a tip-off from a West Bengal native to Anjuna police that led to the raid. The woman, who had been held hostage on being trafficked from her native town, escaped and approached the police station with the complaint.
The accused confessed to running the racket in connivance with local persons in Margao and Kesarval, Verna. The two locations were subsequently raided from where three other girls from Mumbai, West Bengal and Karnataka were rescued. They have been lodged at the protective home in Merces.
