. KANNUR March 10: The police busted a sex racket operated by a gang including a TV serial actress here on Friday.
Nine members of the gang, including the serial actress, were arrested by the police through a deftly designed operation. The racket was operating from a flat at Talap here, and those involved in it were natives of Wayanad, Thrissur and Kannur. The gang members were arrested by a police party led by Circle Inspector Sukumaran and Sub-Inspector Gopakumar. Most of the youths nabbed by the police in connection with the racket were young businessmen.
The police also confiscated several mobile phones and ATM cards from the flat following a search. The operation of the entire sex racket was linked with several other flats and lodges, according to police sources.
Meanwhile, five persons, including three women, were arrested by the Kadavanthra police last week on charges of immoral activities. Police said that they were part of a Bangalore-based sex racket. Those arrested were Merina Beegum, 20; and Suma Roy, 25, of Bangalore; Zakeena, 32, of Kannur; Lalu, 42, of Kannur and Shaji, 34, also known as Kamaru, of Chavakkad.
Actress Arrested For Shoplifting
They were arrested from the parking ground near the eastern entry of the Ernakulam South railway station. Two cars and 10 mobile phones were seized from them. Lalu has cases registered against him under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act in Thiruvalla and Thiruvananthapuram.
Police said that Lalu and Kamaru used to bring in girls from Bangalore and advertise their service as female escorts. Calls to the advertisements are connected in Bangalore, Chennai or Mumbai, and the agents in the State contact the callers and tell them where to come and collect the girls, who are mostly brought in from Bangalore for 10 days. The arrests were made in a follow-up operation made on information received by K Padmakumar, Inspector General of Police, Ernakulam Range. The police acted on the basis of a message received by the Crime Stopper system.