GHAZIABAD: Seven members of a gang that allegedly trafficked women from West Bengal and Jharkhand to Delhi-NCR were arrested on Tuesday and two girls who had been lured with the promise of marriage and then forced into prostitution rescued.The raid on a house in Nanadgram was carried out by a seven-member police team from Uluberia in Bengal who were assisted by their counterparts in Ghaziabad and members of a Delhi-based NGO, Shakti Vahini The police team from Bengal had come to the city on July 8 in search of a 17-year-old girl, who had allegedly been lured with a promise of marriage by a man named Shariful Gazi and then sold to the gang in Ghaziabad for Rs 30,000. Sources said the 34-year old Shariful had introduced himself as a rich man.Rishi Kant, social activist and spokesperson for Shakti Vahini, said: “The girl had got to know Shariful through a phone call some 15-20 days before she went missing. The duo developed a friendship and started talking over the phone regularly. Shariful, who is married and has a kid, had introduced himself as a rich man. His main job was to lure girls from poor families and sell them to people who run prostitution rings.”By the time Bengal police learnt that Shariful was behind the trafficking, he had fled to Tamil Nadu with his family. Police, somehow, lured him to come back to Howrah and he was arrested along with his wife and an accomplice. Shariful then spilled the beans about the gang in Ghaziabad.The Bengal police team that arrested the gang had brought along Shariful and his wife to identify the seven persons, including four women, who were picked up from Nanadgram area. The alleged traffickers have been identified as Ruchi, Sonia, Bharti, Sanju, Rakesh, Mukesh and Waseem.Sub-inspector Piyali Ghosh, the investigating officer in the case, said: “The rescued girl will be handed over to her parents after proper verification. An entire nexus of human traffickers has been busted. Shariful was involved in luring many such girls from Bengal. We hope to solve many such cases after we question the seven accused. We have got their transit remand from a Ghaziabad court.”Ghaziabad SP (city) Akash Tomar said a woman from Jharkhand was rescued, too.

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