She was meted out physical and mental torture for refusing to have sex with customers of the Dubai-based Istoria Hotel

Metropolitan Police Crime Division today busted a notorious racket in human trafficking, leading to the arrest of two of its members.

The detainees are Nabin Dahal, 29, of Ankhisalla of Dhankuta and Birendra Bahadur Shah, 26, of Gaushala, Kathmandu.

DSP Hridya Thapa, who led an investigation team, said the traffickers had taken 22-year-old Sushma Sonali (name changed) to Dubai with the promise of a monthly salary of Rs 160,000 per month in a dance bar, but had abandoned her to the sex trade there and left her to fend for herself.

“Dahal and Shah lured the woman into going to Dubai on February 3 via New Delhi by selling the dream of a lucrative job, but she was meted out physical and mental torture for refusing to have sex with cus tomers of the Dubai-based Istoria Hotel,” DSP Thapa informed.

After the victim expressed desire to leave Dubai for Nepal citing deteriorating health, they blackmailed Sonali demanding Rs 350,000 for her safe exit from the `hell'. She was sent back home on an Air Arabia flight on Monday in semi-conscious state after her family lodged a complaint with the Dubaibased Nepali Embassy through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting it to ask that the victim be rescued.

She has fallen ill and is undergoing treatment in Norvic Hospital.

Earlier, Sonali used to eke out a living as an entertainer in a dance bar in Lalitpur.

Dahal and Shah were involved in trafficking women abroad under the cover of travel agents and businessmen, DSP Thapa said.

They have been charged with human trafficking.

Published on: 28 February 2013 | The Himalayan Times