Sending underage girls abroad:

Another rogue agent arrested

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

A racket involving sending underage girls for foreign employment by forging their passports and travel documents was busted by Police with the arrest of a rogue foreign employment agent in Maradana.

The Police have taken into custody six girls in the age group of 16 to 17 from a lodge in Maradana who were to be sent abroad shortly by submitting forged documents.

They had also arrested an elderly woman assigned by the agent to look after the girls.

The agent had taken steps to send these girls to a training programme conducted by the authorities termed as compulsory for those who want to migrate for work as domestic aides.

The girls are residents of Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts. The police are on the look out for another woman who is responsible for bringing the girls to Colombo and introducing them to the agent. According to police, one teenage girl had been sexually abused by the agent. The Police had come to know about the racket following a telephone call made by the girl to one of her relatives regarding the abuse she underwent.