The police busted an online sex racket in Thiruvananthapuram in a raid carried out on Wednesday night. 39 people including women were arrested from an apartment in Thiruvananthapuram.
The gang reportedly ran the racket through the websitewww.locanto.in as well as Facebook where they posted photographs and mobile numbers of women -including those of students- hailing from both within and outside the state.
The investigation team headed by IPG (Crimes) Sreejith IPS and ADGP (Crimes) Ananthakrishnan IPS was tipped off by a trusted source. The team then approached the gang in disguise, ably aided the state cyber cell and managed to trap the entire lot in a well-planned operation.
According to the police, a case has been registered under the 2000 Information Technology Act and the rescued women have been shifted to various state homes. Minor girls who were also part of the sex racket were lured with lucrative offers of acting and other job opportunities.
Operation Big Daddy was launched a year ago to check abuse of children using online platforms.