New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested eight people on suspicion of human trafficking.
The arrested include a couple - Saira Begum and Aafaq Hussain, who had an unchecked run as trafficking kingpins in Delhi`s Garstin Bastion (GB) Road - and six of their aides.
They have been booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
It is reported that the couple ran a 'syndicate' which is suspected to have trafficked more than 5,000 girls from Nepal and remote areas of West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra and other states.
As per a India Today report, the couple reportedly raked in around Rs 100 crore till date, buying girls for Rs 50,000 and selling them for up to Rs 2 lakh. According to the police, the younger the girl, the higher price the couple used to command.
Once brought to brothels of GB Road in Delhi, the girls were confined to almirah and tunnels and were forced to serve their customers in small cubicals.
Saira has been arrested in seven cases since 1990 and Aafaq in three cases. In one case registered in 2001, Saira was convicted for seven years but returned to the trade soon after.G.B Road in the national capital alone attracts and harbours a majority of them due to the free run they are allowed to have here.
