CBI lists 7 accused in Human trafficking case

CBI today listed seven accused, including a Sub-Inspector of the Immigration wing at the airport here and a civil police officer, in the chargesheet filed in a human trafficking case in which a woman was taken to the Gulf for prostitution in 2012.

The charge sheet was filed by CBI Thiruvananthapuram at the Chief Judicial Magistrate court here. Promising a cleaning job in Dubai and a salary of Rs 25,000, the woman, Mubeena, hailing from Chirayankeezh in Thiruvananthapuram, was sent to the Gulf on June 11, 2012 on a fake passport of a woman from Kottayam.

However, she was taken to Muscat and forced into prostitution. Mubeena, who was earlier the first accused in the case, as she had gone on a fake passport, was made approver, as she was the victim in the prostitution case. The seven accused are Shanta (48), who recruited Mubeena; Lissie Sojan (42), brothel owner in Dubai; Sethulal alias Basheer (40); Shaji (40), Varghese Raphael, Immigration wing Sub Inspector Raju Mathew, and Prashant Kumar, Civil Police officer.

CBI, which took over the investigation of the case last year, is also probing three other human trafficking cases. CBI sources at Thiruvananthapuram told PTI that there was need to collect more details from UAE as the case has international ramifications.

The state government had earlier informed the Kerala High Court that Nedumbassery airport here was functioning as the main gateway for human trafficking activities since 2007. Human trafficking at Thiruvananthapuram airport had come to light in February 2005, when two foreign nationals-- Iranian and Afghan-- were nabbed at Doha and were found travelling using fake foreign passports.