Thane, Oct 9 (PTI) Thane police has busted two sex rackets and rescued nine women including two women from Thailand, officials said on Wednesday.
A total of four persons, including a woman from Thailand, were arrested in these cases, they said.
Acting on a tip-off that a sex racket was being run from a spa located inside a mall, a team of the Anti-Extortion Cell of the crime branch raided the place on Tuesday, said assistant police inspector Sunil Tarmale.
A First Information Report was registered against four persons including the two women who were running the sex racket under section 143 (trafficking of a person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act at Kapurbawdi police station, he said.
The rescued women, who ostensibly worked as staff, were made to work as sex workers, the official added.
The FIR named spa owner Sudhanshu Kumar Singh, employee Rahul Gaikwad (19), a woman who ran the spa and another 26-year-old woman. Gaikwad and the 26-year-old woman were arrested on the spot while search was on for the other two, the official said.
In the second case, a team of the Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of city police raided a hotel in Chitalsar-Manpada area on Wednesday and rescued two women from Thailand while arresting a 38-year-old woman, also from Thailand, who allegedly ran a sex racket, an official said.
Senior inspector Chetna Chowdhary said police first sent a decoy customer before making the arrest.
Similar rackets involving women from Thailand have been found to be operating in Mumbai, Lonavala and Goa among other places, she said.
The two victim Thai women were sent to a rescue home.
The FIR was registered under BNS section 143 and provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act at Chitalsar police station and probe was underway, the official added. PTI COR KRK
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