Staff Reporter
Panaji
Crime branch of the Goa police have arrested Zohair Khalidi, a resident of Karnataka, a second key accused in the international sex trafficking racket case. He was arrested on Wednesday from Bengaluru, Karnataka, police said.
“Khalidi is suspected to be part of a gang of human traffickers of foreign nationals in India,” said Crime Branch SP Rahul Gupta.
Earlier in March, the police had arrested Nancy King’ori alias Alian, a Kenyan national in connection with the
case.
According to the police, one woman, also a Kenyan national, had lodged a complaint against Alian for procuring her and forcing her into prostitution activities and living on her earnings. Following which police had registered an FIR. During investigation, accused Alian was traced at Bengaluru and arrested on March 13. She is currently in judicial custody, police said.
“The accused lady (Alian) is the kingpin of human trafficking,” said Gupta. “The complainant/victim lady was brought by the accused from Kenya to India with a promise of providing a job in the hotel industry. However, on reaching India, the accused lady forcefully took her passport and forced her into prostitution activities,” said Gupta.
Police said that Alian had given one UPI ID/scanner to the victim lady for accepting payment from customers. Accordingly, the details of the said UPI ID/scanner were obtained which revealed that the account linked to the said UPI ID/scanner is registered in the name of Khalidi, informed police.
“A team was sent to Karnataka to locate Khalidi. After a thorough investigation, Khalidi was apprehended at Bengaluru, Karnataka and the team is on the way to Goa,” said Gupta.
