Punjab police nab conduit in 18-yr-old woman trafficking case

The Punjab Police today cracked down on the suspects allegedly involved in the trafficking of an 18-year-old woman from Tarn Taran district in the state to Dubai, officials said.

Gurjit Kaur, the conduit who had allegedly lured the victim, has been arrested, they claimed.

A hunt has been launched for the travel agent, identified as Ibrahim Palam Yusuf from Kerala, who is suspected to be in Dubai, DGP Suresh Arora said, adding a look-out notice was being issued in this regard.

An FIR under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and section 13 of the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act 2012 has been lodged at Police Station Sadar Tarn Taran against Yusuf and Gurjit Kaur, according to the officials.

Gurjit Kaur hails from Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran district.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had last night, in a tweet, requested Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take stringent action against the agent responsible for the the 18-year-old's agony.

She had urged him to call the woman and listen to her traumatic experience.

"She should be able to reveal the whole racket of human trafficking in Punjab," Swaraj tweeted.

"Reg the case of the woman, I had asked top @PunjabPolice officers to meet her on arrival in Amritsar @SushmaSwaraj ji. They have taken all details from her and a case has been registered against Gurjit Kaur, who has been arrested, & Ibrahim Palam Yusuf, currently in Dubai," Amarinder wrote on Twitter today.

IG Amritsar Zone SPS Parmar said the woman was received at the Amritsar airport today by the commissioner of police, Amritsar, and other civil and police officials.

She told the police that a month ago Gurjit Kaur came to her house and suggested to her mother to send her to Dubai.

She subsequently arranged a meeting of the woman with the agent at Chaar Khamba Chowk in Tarn-Taran. The woman was told by the agent that she would have to work as a child caretaker in Dubai. He also told her mother that all expenses would be adjusted from her pay in Dubai, the officials said.

A few days later, the mother and daughter met the agent in Amritsar and he introduced himself as Ibrahim Palam Yusuf of Kerala and gave his mobile number to them. He soon sent her the visa and air ticket for a July 26 flight, they said.

The girl was received by the agent at the Dubai Airport and later taken to a Sheikh.

According to the woman, the person did not provide her any work and also took her passport and mobile phone, which made her suspicious. She somehow called her mother, who then contacted Sarwan Singh Randhawa, a resident of Jhabal in Tarn Taran, who, in turn, got in touch with Roop Sidhu, who runs an NGO in Dubai.

The woman was rescued by Sidhu yesterday.

In her statement to the police here, she claimed that she had also been molested by the agent.

Initial investigations have revealed that the phone number of the agent was registered in the name of a man, a resident of Kerala. Yusuf is working for two UAE-based recruitment agencies, DGP Arora said.

Earlier, on July 27, Swaraj had said the agent responsible for trafficking 39 Indians to Iraq was still operating his business in Punjab and sending people abroad.

Swaraj had then requested Amarinder to take action against illegal travel agents in the state.