Four arrested in human trafficking racket

Anand, Apr 24 (UNI) The local police have unearthed a state-wide human-trafficking racket with the arrest of four persons in this connection from the city today.

According to the police sources here, a gang of four, who used to pose as policemen from the Mumbai Crime Branch, were arrested while they were collecting passports and money from one of their customers, Rajesh Patel and his wife, today.

Police said the four accused-- Ketan Thakkar, his brother-in-law Ritesh, Jitesh Dave (all three residents of Ahmedabad) and Rahul Parekh of Rajkot- would meet their clients as cops of Mumbai police and claimed to have internal connection in Australian Embassy in Mumbai to help them in getting VISA of that country.

The gang was moving in a car with a beacon to impress the clients and tried to escape from the local police.

During the preliminary investigation, police recovered some fake identity cards of Mumbai police and reporters from them.

Police also found that this gang had collected 34 passports and Rs 14.5 lakh from local customers.

Police suspect the gang might have committed similar crimes in other cities of Gujarat.

UNI RP-MP RL HT2107