MUMBAI: More than four minors from Gujarat were sent to the US in the last 10 months via Mumbai, the Gujarat CID has said in a report after interrogating Rakesh Gamlewala (42), who was arrested by the Versova police on August 13 for sending minors abroad on passports that were not theirs.A Gujarat CID team visited the Versova police station on August 18 and questioned Gamlewala. Their probe revealed that the "trafficked" minors were not part of any immoral trafficking. "We learnt Gamlewala is part of an immigration racket. We learnt that the racket was perpetuated by those who had already migrated to the US, mostly illegally, and wanted to get help in getting their children transferred as well," director general of police (Gujarat CID) Ashish Bhatia told TOI. "Most of the illegal immigrants hail from the Patel community in Gujarat. Many people from Gujarat and Punjab are found in a similar situation where they contact agents to send them abroad illegally. The minors were not sent for any kind of prostitution. Instead, the racket was to get them to reunite with their parents, who would be already residing in the US."The racket was busted in March when actor Preeti Sood received a call from a friend that two minors were being applied makeup at a Versova salon. "I went there on a suspicion that the girls were being readied for brothels. But once there, I realised that the racket was bigger than I thought," she had told TOI. She said she found three men instructing the staff on how to apply makeup on two minors."When I asked, the men claimed they were sending the children to their parents in the US. I asked them to accompany me to the police station, but they refused. I managed to stop two of the men and called the police. Meanwhile, the third escaped with the girls," Sood said. Sood got four men arrested by the police, including a retired sub-inspector's son.Bhatia said the two rescued girls too were to be reunited with their parents. Last year, in May, the Sahar police arrested 19 persons, including a police constable, four Immigration officials and several travel agents, for trafficking at least 52 people to Canada and the US on fake passports. A deportee, identified as Komal Damgar (30), a Gujarat resident, was caught in the second week of May for travelling on fake identity proof and passport. Damgar spilled the beans on the racket. The four immigration officials who were arrested-Harshad Patil, Anil Surase, Rajesh Godse and BA Praveen-are out on bail.

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