The police busted an inter-State sex racket following a raid on an apartment at Parayancherry in the city on Tuesday night.
A team of police officers led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Prince Abraham and Medical College Circle Inspector M.P. Premadas arrested five persons, including two women, on the charge of running a brothel and indulging in prostitution. The raid was conducted following a tip-off from local people. A vehicle, Rs.22,000, and liquor bottles were seized from their possession during the raid.
The accused were charged with Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. They were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
The police said the accused had been running the racket linking hotels and resorts in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts for more than six months. One of the accused, who was working as a photographer, owned the flat. He stayed with a woman in the apartment in the guise of being a married couple. He lured girls from Bangalore and other places. Another accused reportedly worked as a pimp. More people were suspected to be involved in the racket.