Four Indian-Americans arrested for allegedly running human trafficking racket in Texas
Houston, Jul 9: Four Indian-Americans, including a woman, have been charged with allegedly running a human labour trafficking scheme out of a home in the US state of Texas, a media report said.
The Princeton Police Department released details of an investigation that led to four people being arrested after 15 women were found inside the home as alleged victims of human labour trafficking, news portal Fox4News.com said on Monday night.
Chandan Dasireddy, 24, Dwaraka Gunda, 31, Santhosh Katkoori, 31, and Anil Male, 37, all arrested in March, are now charged with trafficking of persons, a second-degree felony, and more arrests are expected, the channel reported, quoting police.
The authorities found that all the young women, living in the same home, were forced to sleep on the floor at a home on Ginsburg Lane in Collin County, Princeton. “There was basically no furniture inside the home at the centre of human trafficking, just a bunch of computer electronics and blankets,” police said.
Another news portal, McKinney Courier-Gazette said officers with the Princeton Police Department were dispatched on March 13 to a residence regarding a welfare concern and suspicious circumstance.
“After further investigation of the initial report, Princeton Police CID detectives obtained a search warrant for the home of Santhosh Katkoori, where 15 adult females were located. During the investigation, it was discovered that the females were forced to work for Katkoori and multiple programming shell companies owned by him and his wife, Dwaraka Gunda,” it said.
While the search warrant was executed, multiple laptops, cell phones, printers and fraudulent documents were seized. It was later determined that multiple locations within Princeton, Melissa, and McKinney were involved in the forced labouring of the victims, including adult males, the portal said, adding, additional laptops, cell phones, and documents were seized from the other locations.
The original concern was raised by a pest control company, which was called for possible bed bugs. “Once inside, the inspector noticed that each room had 3-5 young females sleeping on the floors. There were also large amounts of suitcases. The company contacted police,” Fox4News.com added.
The news portal quoted Princeton Police Sgt Carolyn Crawford who said over 100 more people are involved, “more than half of them victims.”
However, she did not reveal what type of labour operation was happening.
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Hezbollah fires over 180 rockets, other projectiles into Israel, wounding at least 7
Beirut, Nov 24: Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the group's heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army centre killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. Israel's military expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the Hezbollah group. The strike was under review.
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
