Police in Southeast Delhi’s Tughlagabad Extension in India has rescued two Ugandan women from a flat after they were allegedly trafficked to India in the guise of being promised employment, but were later pushed into sex labor.

According to the Delhi Police, the victims rescued on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, and suspects arrested on Wednesday, July 26, 2023.

“They landed in India on the pretext of employment, they were taken to a flat in Tughlaqabad Extension, where the suspects told them they spent ₹1.5 lakh each on their visas and flight tickets. The victims were told to pay ₹4.5 lakh each,” Deo Rajesh, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of South-east said.

The police said that, the suspects took the women’s passports and held them hostage before forcing them into the sex trade.

“When the victims said they were unable to pay any money, Rayner and the woman allegedly seized their passports. Later, they were forced into sex work. The accused would use a dating app to scout for prospective clients. The earnings were kept by the accused,” Rajesh noted.

Police identified the arrested suspects as Osama Rayner, a male Nigerian national, and his Tanzanian girlfriend, both in their 30s.

According to the police, they were booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, and their respective embassies were notified.

Rajesh, noted that, the two Ugandan women were rescued after one of them accessed Facebook and contacted Manobal, an NGO that recently rescued a woman from Africa after being forced into sex labor in Delhi. It was the NGO that informed the police.

“The victim discovered the NGO on Facebook and contacted them for assistance. In turn, the NGO sent an email to the police, who verified the information and conducted a rescue operation on Tuesday,” the DCP revealed.

An investigator associated with the case said that the arrested woman claimed that she underwent a similar trial three years ago before she adopted the same path with Rayner.

The police said that they were trying to verify the suspects’ documents even though the male suspect would not provide them immediately.

Preliminary information indicates that during the police interrogation, one of the victims, aged 27, told police that she arrived in India in December, 2022, while the second one, aged 24, arrived in April 2022.