In a joint operation on Friday night, the CID and the city police busted an online prostitution racket in the city. It was a State-wide raid and similar crackdowns took place in Tirupati, Vijayawada and Rajahmundry, said Two Town Police Station SHO Venkat Rao.
In Visakhapatnam, the police arrested a man and his wife and rescued one 22-year-old woman from Kolkata.
As per the initial investigation, the phone numbers of high-profile escort services are hosted on the online and the entire transaction is reportedly overseen by handlers from Kolkata or other big cities. Once a client contacts the number, he is asked to come to a hotel, where the woman is sent. “It was through covert operation that we tracked down the couple, when they were escorting the victim to a star hotel to meet a client,” said Mr. Venkat Rao.
The girls are recruited in big cities and sent to smaller cities, where the kingpins have brokers, who act as franchisees.
According to the police, the victim who was rescued on Friday, had come to Visakhapatnam earlier on another occasion.
