After busting an international flesh trade racket on Monday, the Mumbai Crime Branch saved tens of girls, who were set to be sent out of the country for prostitution, yesterday. From Monday till now, officers have recovered and seized 60 passports from the three arrested accused; the passports are of different women staying in remote and poor regions across India. Statements of all of them will be recorded soon.

On Monday, the crime branch had arrested the main accused, Farid Ul Haque Azizul Haque alias Tipu, 44, a Dubai hotelier, and two job placement agents, Mohammad Kamaal Shaikh and Tinku Dinesh Raj. Tipu stays in a plush society in Lokhandwala, Andheri West, and has two hotels in Dubai, where 40-odd such women are employed. He was picked up from his home, while the other two were arrested from their respective offices in Nagpada. An officer said, "Of these 60 women, several knew for what purpose they were being sent abroad, while others didn't."