As pimps go online, the police have to go off line to catch them.
Photo Credits: SEX RACKET
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MODUS OPERANDI EMPLOYED
* Police choose websites at random and shortlist some four to five * Numbers flashed on websites are contacted in order to fix a meet * On an average, four to five agents are listed on each website
* Success of raids rests solely on evidence and witnesses to exchange of hard cash between the pimp or girls and decoy customer * The actual raid to catch the perpetrators is conducted only after the crucial exchange of cash between the two parties
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Most cops were in agreement that the main perpetrators in such online prostitution rackets live in Goa and are well-connected
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PANAJI:
By offline we mean the good old fashioned of sending a decoy. From there on its a cat and mouse game with the cop trying to hoodwink the prostitution website agent and the agent and pimp employing a system of checks and measures to outwit the cops.
Using the decoy method, crime branch alone conducted around 10 raids in 2015-16 which has proved to be successful even while being time-consuming as well as placing considerable logistic burden on the force.
Referring to a case of online prostitution cracked by the crime branch on April 20, Police Inspector (crime branch) Dattaguru Sawant said, “Modus operandi employed by Goa Police in cracking such cases is invariably the same ie sending out a decoy customer.”
He informed that police choose websites at random and shortlist some four to five. Then the numbers flashed on all these websites are contacted in order to fix a meet. On an average, four to five agents are listed on each website.
These mobile and call records, it was informed, are required to establish the entire chain of transaction and to join the dots.
“Hotel booking have to be done in advance for the date agreed upon by the client. The details of hotel booking have to be shared by the client with the agent. He verifies these. Then sends pimps along with girls to the hotel at a given time. Pimps either accept advance or take the entire amount,” PI Sawant disclosed.
Most cops were in agreement that the main perpetrators in such online prostitution rackets live in Goa and are well-connected. This means that they tend to receive tip-offs of a police raid well in advance.
If the kingpins of these rackets or even the pimps find the phone number used in communications doubtful or if they receive tip-offs, they make the decoy customer wait for at least four to five hours before sending only the girls to meet the decoy customer directly.
“This makes it extremely difficult for us to pin them down and to establish their link with the business,” PI Sawant stated.
Members of the investigating team of Panaji Police, which conducted a successful raid in Dona Paula rescuing three girls on Tuesday night, also confirmed these details.
It was further added that the success of such raids rests solely on evidence and witnesses to exchange of hard cash between the pimp or girls and decoy customer. Hence, the actual raid to catch the perpetrators is conducted only after the crucial exchange of cash between the two parties.
Speaking on this matter, however, sources from Goa Police, said that this money amount is attached during the raid and cannot be recovered thereafter till the case reaches logical conclusion.
Thereafter, the victims are rescued and their statement about their exploitation is recorded in presence of NGO, before sending them to protective home in Merces.
Police records show that girls supplied to customers and then rescued in Goa over the last one year are from all across the country but mainly from Mumbai, Delhi and West Bengal.
These girls are paid around Rs one to two lakhs for coming down to Goa for two to three weeks. Various websites also supply girls from countries surrounding Russia as ‘Russian girls’, it was revealed.
A raiding party usually comprises four to five lady police personnel, five to six policemen, two members from an NGO and two panch witnesses. Recently, the cyber crime police have also begun to assist in checking the links of the website and other related information.
Incidentally, convictions are hard to get because the victims, in most cases, disappear into thin air after their release from protective homes. Otherwise, they simply refuse to cooperate during the trial, sources said.
Despite almost no convictions being secured in such cases in the recent past, Goa Police continue to conduct such raids with the sole aim of reducing and controlling the graph of flesh trade in the State. It also deters new entrants into that industry, said one cop.
