Four Indian-origin suspects arrested in US on human trafficking charges

Four individuals of Indian origin have been arrested in the US state of Texas and charged with second-degree felony trafficking of persons after police discovered 15 women living and sleeping on the floor in the same home.

Anil Male, Chandan Dasireddy, Dwaraka Gunda, and Santhosh Katkoori were all taken into custody followinga raid on Katkoori's residence by the Princeton Police Department in north Texas inMarch, earlier this year. After a months-long probe, the police have recently made details about the case public.

According to Fox 4 News, a pest control firm that was called to Katkoori's home in March discovered luggage and three to five young women in each room. This discovery prompted the company to get in touch with the Princeton Police Department.

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After obtaining a search order on March 13, the police discovered 15 adult women who said they were coerced into working for many programming shell firms owned by Katkoori and his partner, Gunda.

During their investigation of the house, the Princeton Police reported that they discovered many laptops, cell phones, printers, and forged documents.

It was also foundthat the suspected forced labour network was operating in at least three Texas cities: Melissa, Princeton, and McKinney.

Additional laptops and documents were confiscated from various locations. The perpetrators are also accused of compelling adult men to work, though the Princeton Police Department did not specify the nature of the programming tasks involved.

According to Fox 4 News, more than half of the individuals participating in the operation were victims of forced labour and human trafficking. The operation reportedlyinvolved over 100 people.

(With inputs from agencies)