Sex Racket: Lissy Sojan held

HIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major breakthrough in the investigation into the Nedumbaserry human trafficking case, the Kerala police on Thursday arrested the main accused, who was engaged in trafficking women for sex in foreign countries in connivance with immigration officials at the Cochin International Airport.

Lissy Sojan, also known as Leena Basheer and Aswathy, who was absconding after a flourishing flesh trade she operated abroad came to light last year, was taken into custody by a special team of the State Crime Branch police from her house at Kodungalloor in Trichur district.

The 43-year-old woman, who is wanted by the Kerala police in the case related to the trafficking of a 19-year-old girl from Kazhakoottam in Thiruvananthapuram district, will be produced before the Aluva Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court on Friday.

A police officer, who was assisting the woman in the operation, had surrendered before police last month. Raju Mathew, a Sub-Inspector at the Immigration wing of the Cochin airport, allegedly helped Lissy in pushing women through the airport on fake documents.

The racket came to light when the girl from Kazhakoottam was detained by police at the Mumbai airport last year for travelling on a fake passport. The case was later handed over to the Kerala police, who found that she was lured into flesh trade by an agent of Lissy in Kerala with the offer of a house-keeping job in Sharjah. The subsequent investigation revealed that the girl was one among many recruited for sex trade by Lissy by offering job in Middle East, Singapore and other countries. The Crime Branch suspects that the number of women trafficked by Lissy and her agents will be more than 125.