Trafficking of Indian women: More Bahrain ties exposed

An Indian man working in a Bahrain government office is allegedly an accomplice for trafficking several women to the kingdom and forcing them into the flesh trade, it has emerged.

Besides the involvement of Arab national has also been exposed in the investigation so far by the Indian police.

The revelation was made to Indian authorities by members of an online sex racket busted recently.

DT had reported earlier that Indian two men were arrested by Indian authorities for reportedly trafficking women to Bahrain.

The men were alleged to have been involved in an online sex racket in which they blackmailed the victims into sex trade to several foreign countries. According to media reports in India, the two men were nabbed from their hideout in Bengaluru, the capital city of Indian State Karnataka after police tracked their mobile phones.

Meanwhile the female victims who were trafficked to Bahrain over a period of time included nurses, teachers and beauticians. The victims were trafficked to Bahrain with help of a Keralite government official here.

The traffickers have confessed that the women were brought to Bahrain mainly under visit visas. They were then forced and threatened into prostitution. Several of these women did not even meet the critera for surpassing emmigration clearance, like educational qualification etc. However they were allowed to fly to Bahrain with the illicit assistance of staff at the Cochin International Airport.  

There is also evidence to point out that some illegal taxi drivers and apartment managers/owners are also involved in this racket and the girls were mainly "sold" at apartments in Juffair Gudaibiya and Um Al Hassam.

Meanwhile Indian media got an audio clip of a telephonic conversation between Mujeeb, one of the main accused, and a person who pretended to be a customer. In the clip, which could be a crucial evidence in the case, Mujeeb is heard saying the women in his possession included a teacher, nurse and beauticians. 

He also sent a message saying the same and images of over 20 women to the 'customer' on WhatsApp.

The man who acted as the customer reportedly saved his fiancée from the racket and recorded the conversation deliberately to expose the criminals. Earlier, in a confidential statement to the police, the women, who escaped from the racket, had said that the prime accused Joyce Joshi trafficked women to Bahrain. 

Joyce became acquainted with Mujeeb, while they were serving prison terms for other cases.

Mujeeb and his brothers reportedly carried out the deals in Gulf countries, including Bahrain.

On Thursday, a woman victim had alleged that Joyce trapped her by intoxicating her at his house in the south Indian state of Kerala and raped her. The woman said Joyce recorded the visuals of the rape and blackmailed her. She said Joyce 'offered' her to several persons.

Joyce is the son of Joshi aka Achayan, one of the key accused in the case, and was involved in the trafficking racket. 

The father-son duo apparently took turns to rape girls in order to “prepare” them for the flesh trade.

The probe team had found that Joshy and his team had last sent women to the Gulf countries around two months ago. They had 'tie-ups' with sex rackets in the Gulf and that is how women were trafficked to these nations, the probe team has found.

Two men arrested in Bengaluru in connection with an online sex trade racket had trafficked six women to Bahrain, the police said.

Joyce and Arun were working in tandem with Joyce's father Joshy, who has already been arrested in connection with the case.

They trafficked women to foreign countries with the help of Akbar, another accused in the case. Six women were sent to a person called Mujeeb in Bahrain through Kochi, Chennai, Madurai and Mumbai airports, the police report said. 

Some of his relatives in Kerala were also involved in the case.

His (Joyce) modus operandi was to lure girls by feigning love and promising to marry them. He would then take the video of them on the sly and use the clips to blackmail them into sex trade.

He would later sell them to other agents, often by advertising on shady websites. He also used to molest girls by spiking their drinks. Co-accused Arun supplied him the drugs.

Caption: Joyce and Mujeeb