Four Indians were arrested and 15 women were found, as police in Princeton, a city in the US state of Texas, busted a human trafficking racket.
While information about the arrests has just been released, the arrests were spread out over several months. The accused — Chandan Dasireddy (24), Dwaraka Gunda (31), Santhosh Katkoori (31), and Anil Male (37) — have been charged with human trafficking, a second-degree felony. All four are of Telugu ethnicity, from southern India.
According to some reports, suspicions were first raised when a pest control company was called to deal with a possible bedbug problem in the house from where the 15 women were later found.
Various media reports said that the women were forced to sleep on the floor, with their suitcases all over the place.
A police release, shared on X by the handle @Telugu360, said: “Princeton Police officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of Ginsburg Lane on March 13, 2024, at approximately 3pm, to a residence regarding a welfare concern and suspicious circumstance.”
After initial investigations, the police got a search warrant for the house of Santhosh Katkoori. Upon raiding the house, they found “15 adult females”.
Questioning them, the police found that the women were being forced to work for Katkoori, who was married to Dwaraka Gunda; they were also used as forced labour for several shell companies owned by the husband and wife.
These women were not trafficked for menial work; they were ‘techies’ who were forced to work as programmers for the shell companies.
Further investigations led to the discovery of “multiple locations” — in the cities of Princeton, Melissa, and McKinney — that were used for housing more trafficked people, including adult males. While raiding these places, the police seized laptops, cell phones and documents.
An X post by @sudhakarudumula said: “Police revealed that the trafficking operation likely involves over 100 individuals, with more than half identified as victims.”
