Alert Ham radio operators, with the help of the local police, could rescue a 22-year-old woman allegedly trafficked from Bangladesh, here on Tuesday.
As per the police and the statement given by the woman, she had come to India from Bangladesh a few days ago on a sightseeing tour with the help of three of her friends, who had allegedly taken away her passport in Kolkata.
She was allegedly sent to Visakhapatnam on April 28 and asked to contact Vineet, a native of Kerala, residing in the Port City. Since then, she had been staying with Vineet and another woman at a house in Sujatha Nagar under the Pendurthi Police Station limits.
‘Physically abused’
The Bangladeshi woman said she grew suspicious as there was a steady flow of young women to the house, and she could overhear them talking about financial deals and a proposal to send her to Mumbai. The woman also alleged that she was confined to a locked room and physically abused.
On Monday night, the woman said she was able to call her brother, a Ham radio operator in Bangladesh, and tell him about her plight.
As per a Ham radio operator of Dolphin Amateur Radio Repeater Club (DARRC) in Visakhapatnam, the woman’s brother got in touch with a Ham operator in West Bengal, who in turn contacted the local police.
But during the first search-and-rescue operation on Monday night, the police team could not locate the house.
It was then that the West Bengal Ham operator got in touch with me, and I immediately rushed to the location, and based on the address given and landmarks suggested, I scanned the area and could locate the house in the early hours of Tuesday, said the DARRC member.
“I have informed the police about the address, rescued the girl through the window and locked the house from outside. Meanwhile. the police team reached the spot and took the man and the woman into their custody,” he said.
“It looks like the girl has been trafficked from Bangladesh and sent to Visakhapatnam. Both the accused are in our custody and investigation is on. Meanwhile, we will send the rescued woman to the Woman and Child Welfare Home,” said the Pendurthi police.
