The Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police arrested a 31-year-old foreign national on Saturday for allegedly operating a prostitution racket from an apartment in Nallasopara. The AHTU team successfully rescued three women from Uganda who had been coerced into the flesh trade. The accused, Celia Linda (31), who claims to be a citizen of Malawi, a country in southeast Africa, was apprehended. She has been booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the stringent Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA), 1956.
Acting on a tip-off, the AHTU team, led by Police Inspector Santosh Choudhary, devised a plan involving a decoy customer to establish contact with the pimp. Once the deal was set, the decoy tipped off the team, which swiftly conducted a raid on an apartment in Nallasopara's Hanuman Nagar area. The Malawi national, who operated the racket through social messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, by sharing photographs of women to attract potential clients, was taken into custody.
To ensure the legality of their stay in the country, the police are scrutinising the documents, including passports, of the foreign nationals involved.
