London, July 27: Under the garb of 'mujra', a traditional form of Indian dance and using bollywood films and music business as a cover, Asian teenage girls are being forced into sexual slavery in the UK by gangs as part of an organised crime. The highly lucrative racket is part of an explosion of Asian organised crime which is rapidly becoming a major threat to law and order in London and other places, a senior police officer has said. "The growth in Asian prostitution is part of a general expansion of the sex trade in London. We are seeing a significant increase in the number of saunas and brothels, partly as a response to a decline in street prostitution," Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner of police, who is heading the specialist crime operations at the metropolitan police told the observer, a weekly.
"A large proportion of the women involved originate from eastern Europe but we are increasingly becoming aware of prostitution rackets and human trafficking around music groups linked to the Indian and Pakistani film industry," he said. The sex slave trade revolves around 'mujra'. Publicised almost entirely by word of mouth, performances take place after normal closing hours at a small number of venues in the heart of the Asian community, the report said.

A typical show involves up to 16 women, all wearing traditional costume, dancing one at a time on a stage area to the sound tracks of hit Bollywood films. The audience is exclusively male.

Bureau Report