A case of trafficking Sri Lankan girls to the Maldives for prostitution has been busted by the Police.
The detection came on information received by the Special Investigations Unit of the Mirihana Police when a brothel operating in the Pannipitiya area was raided.
OIC of the Unit IP H.N.B. Jayasinha, who led the raid, told the Sunday Times that, on surveillance carried out on the brothel, they found that the clients were accepted by appointment.
Initially, a WPC decoy made contact with the brothel, wanting to join the prostitution ring.
Thereafter, police decoys had been used to raid the place and five girls and the manageress who was known in the area as ‘Pannipitiya aunty’ arrested.
He said that during the investigations it was revealed that, every month, two to three girls were sent to the Maldives on tourist visas, and were employed as prostitutes in the islands off Male.
“They were usually accompanied by a man, to ensure the girls did not escape, but returned to Sri Lanka”, he said.
Investigations also revealed that this trafficking of prostitutes to the Maldives had been in operation for the past six years, with details regarding the local as well as the foreign agents also being uncovered.
Meanwhile, at Pannipitiya, though only six persons were arrested, a wider network was found to be in operation. Among those involved was a man who had provided his 19-year-old wife for prostitution, he said.
The six persons arrested, who were residents of Galle, Kandy, Anuradhapura and Mahiyangana, have been remanded till October 31. |
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