International human trafficking ring busted, 26 women rescued

Delhi Police have arrested a 52-year-old man and his woman accomplice for running an international human trafficking racket, and rescued 26 women who were to be trafficked to Gulf countries, police said on Wednesday.

Shabin Shaha, the kingpin of the gang, was arrested from Dang district of Nepal on Tuesday, while the woman associate, in her 40s, whose name is withheld, was arrested from Rup Nagar in north Delhi, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

The officer said they were trailing the gang's activity following a complaint received from Nepal Embassy about such a gang being operated from the national capital.

Following a tip off, the officer said, two separate police teams rescued 22 women from a rented house in Mahipalpur in south Delhi and four from Rup Nagar.

Sixteen of the women are residents of Nepal while 10 belong to West Bengal, the officer said.

"The women were to be sent to Gulf countries," the officer said.

Shaha informed police that he had been in the human trade business since 2011 and has trafficked more than 1,500 women to Gulf countries so far.

"Shaha used to get Rs 5,000 every month for each woman sent to the Gulf. The group used to target Nepal, West Bengal and North East areas to traffic women who are lured on the promise of providing them jobs as domestic help," the officer said.

The officer said that Sri Lanka Police registered a case against Shaha after they rescued 48 women from the clutches of this gang in Colombo in July.