One held, two girls taken into custody

PANAJI: One Moksudar Rahman Laskar, 26, was arrested by the Porvorim police on Thursday for procuring two girls from Mumbai, aged 23 and 24, for the purpose of pushing them into the flesh trade.
Porvorim police inspector Devendra Gad said that they had received calls from locals residing at Chogam Road in Porvorim informing them that Laskar was soliciting customers in the area for the two girls by making lewd gestures at tourists heading towards Calangute.
Porvorim police personnel rushed to the sight and spotted the trio, who were questioned and later arrested. The accused, a resident of West Bengal, has been booked by the police under Sections 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.
“We have recorded preliminary statements. Further statements of the accused will be recorded by the deputy collector. The accused lives in a rented premises in Colva,” PI Gad said.
The girls were produced before the deputy collector and have been sent to a protective home in Merces. The accused has been remanded to seven days police custody.