VZCZCXRO4429
PP RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0305/01 2040851
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 230851Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7341
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT PRIORITY 0004
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 8578
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0806
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2565

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MUMBAI 000305 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR G-TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM ASEC KWMN IN
SUBJECT: NEW ANTI-TRAFFICKING UNIT IN MUMBAI 
 
REF: A. A       08 MUMBAI 226 
     ¶B. B       09 MUMBAI 293 
 
MUMBAI 00000305  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary:  The Mumbai Crime Branch Unit formed a new 
cell in February to specifically address international 
trafficking and human smuggling.  The unit has already made some 
progress: it arrested two Air India pilots for smuggling women 
into the U.S. and rescued several Uzbek and Bangladeshi women. 
However, in general police attention to domestic trafficking 
cases in and around Mumbai remains inconsistent.  The Mumbai 
police are routinely overwhelmed with election and festival 
duties, terrorist investigations, and increased security duties. 
 An anti-trafficking NGO working in Mumbai's suburbs recently 
turned to the national Criminal Bureau of Investigation rather 
than local police to successfully disrupt a trafficking ring and 
rescue several minors.  At the moment, the unit's ability to 
crack larger trafficking networks is stymied by lack of adequate 
staffing, resources and coordination with other police forces. 
However, the establishment of the Anti-Trafficking Cell is a 
step in the right direction.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Mumbai Police Announce New Anti-trafficking/Smuggling Cell 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U)  In May, Mumbai Deputy Chief of Police Rakesh Maria, who 
heads the Crime Branch Unit, briefed Congenoffs about the new 
anti-trafficking and human smuggling cell formed to exclusively 
address international trafficking. (Note:  The establishment of 
the anti-trafficking unit in Mumbai stems from efforts of 
Mumbai's ARSO-I in discussions with Maria and precedes the 
Government of India's announcement on July 8 that it is working 
on a proposal to set up anti-trafficking cells in states.  End 
Note.)  According to Maria, the unit will have seven 
investigators and 12 constables when fully staffed, but 
currently only four investigators are assigned to the unit.  The 
unit does not yet have permanent office space or office 
equipment.  The new unit, also charged with addressing alien 
smuggling, made headlines in May when it arrested two Air India 
employees who used their wives' passports to help two women 
enter the U.S. illegally.  Consulate Mumbai's ARSO-I worked 
closely with Maria in that investigation.  ARSO-I is also 
working with the anti-trafficking cell on a trafficking case -- 
women taken to the U.S. on performer visas, allegedly to be 
"cultural dancers," but who were recently arrested in Georgia, 
along with their visa petitioner, for prostitution. (ref B) 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  Maria said that trafficking of Indian women abroad for 
sex work often takes place under the cover of cultural shows 
like "classical Indian dancers."  He said that many Indian women 
are trafficked to the United Kingdom on visas for cultural 
dancers, but use the dancing as a front to solicit sex.  They 
work as bar dancers, he said, soliciting sex from the dance 
floor, then perform the acts off-premises after their show, 
similar to the practice in "dance bars" in Mumbai.  He noted 
that the girls, often recruited from dance bars in Mumbai, go 
willingly, believing they will make more money abroad.  (Note: 
In 2005, the Maharashtra government banned dance bars in the 
city of Mumbai, but the law was ruled unconstitutional by the 
High Court.  The case remains pending in the Indian Supreme 
Court.  Meanwhile, the bars operate with the girls serving as 
"waitresses" rather than "dancers".  End Note.)  Maria told of 
one woman, reported missing by her husband in Mumbai, who 
eventually returned from the U.K. with 6000 pounds (roughly 9800 
USD).  He said the "agent" usually takes 60 percent of the 
woman's earnings from prostitution. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U)  Tracking the ringleaders has been difficult, Maria 
lamented.  He explained that the traffickers often work from one 
location for only two to three months before shifting, making it 
difficult to locate them.  A further obstacle is the fact that 
agents and ringleaders use prepaid phone cards.  (Note:  Mumbai 
RSO advises that these agents often also work as fraudulent 
document vendors and are under investigation through the ARSO-I 
program at post. End Note.)   Maria also noted that Indian 
states need to computerize police records so that trafficking 
patterns and networks can be uncovered.  He explained that 
prostitutes generally have a five to seven year "shelf life" 
during which the traffickers try to maximize earnings from the 
girls; if a sex worker is arrested, he said, she is often 
 
MUMBAI 00000305  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
relocated by the trafficking ring to another city where she has 
no record with the police. 
 
 
 
More Uzbek and Bangladeshi Women Arrested in Mumbai 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U)  Maria reported that seven Uzbek women and six 
Bangladeshis have been arrested in Mumbai for prostitution since 
the international trafficking unit was formed in February 2009. 
(See reftel A)  Maria contended that the foreign women picked up 
in trafficking raids come to India willingly to work as 
prostitutes.  He said the arrested Uzbek women came on tourist 
visas, and since prostitution itself is not illegal under Indian 
law, the women were released from custody with no further 
investigation.  Though he questioned why India issues tourist 
visas to single women who realistically would not travel around 
India alone, he did not plan to raise that issue with the 
Ministry of External Affairs.  Maria said that the policy is to 
automatically notify the embassy of foreign nationals picked up 
by police for any crime, but rehabilitation services are not 
offered for the women because of the language barrier and their 
resistance to rehabilitation. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U)  Maria said his department uses Russian speakers who 
interview the women to try to obtain information regarding the 
trafficking network that brought them to Mumbai.  He also 
claimed that most women speak enough English to get by. (Note: 
RSO Mumbai reports that in previous meetings with Maria he 
complained of a shortage of English speaking officers.  Further, 
as noted in reftel, the police had no Russian interpreter and 
the court asked an NGO, Prerana, in December 2008 to find a 
interpreter to speak to an Uzbek woman to see if they wanted 
repatriation assistance.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  Maria alleged that most trafficking of foreigners to 
Mumbai is connected to Russian and Israeli mafia operations in 
Goa, explaining why the Mumbai police had not cracked the 
trafficking ring(s).  Maria claimed credit, however, for the 
arrests of leaders of the Central Asian trafficking ring in New 
Delhi in January 2009, saying that bust was based upon 
information supplied by his office. 
 
 
 
 
 
Social Services Branch Handles Domestic Trafficking 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U)  Maria explained that the police's Social Services 
Branch (SSB) will continue to be responsible for addressing 
prostitution that takes place in Mumbai--i.e., running sting 
operations to crack "escort services" fronting for 
prostitution--but leaving street level solicitation to the 
neighborhood police precincts to handle.  According to Maria, 
the SSB identifies sex workers advertising in local newspapers 
under the guise of "friendship services" and arranges decoys to 
act as potential customers.  Once the terms for payment in 
exchange for sex are agreed upon, the police arrest the girl and 
the "agent."  Maria would not discuss, however, efforts to 
identify the higher level trafficking networks that bring girls 
to Mumbai. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (U)  Justice and Care International (JCI), a relatively new 
NGO on the trafficking front in Mumbai, and other NGO contacts, 
have told Congenoffs that while Mumbai police have been 
effective in closing down much of the brothel-based business in 
the city, most of that traffic has shifted to truck stops, 
restaurants and lodges just beyond the city limits.  NGOs also 
report that within the city, prostitution operations are now 
more decentralized, with girls soliciting in railways stations, 
on street corners, from taxis and through classified 
advertisements in the newspapers, making it harder to reach the 
women for rescue, rehabilitation or even to provide health 
services.  While NGOs reported increased police cooperation in 
 
MUMBAI 00000305  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
rooting out trafficking of minors in the brothels, there has 
been little or no coordinated effort to curb street-level 
prostitution, according to Prerana and other NGOs working in the 
city.  JCI reports working with both SSB and local police 
precincts to build awareness of the modes of trafficking of 
women.  One outcome of JCI's efforts is that Maria instructed 
Mumbai police stationed at the main railway station, known as 
CST, to watch for young girls coming off trains with men who do 
not appear to be relatives, as this is often a major way to 
bring minors and other new sex workers to the city. 
 
 
 
 
 
Police reluctant to work with NGOs for anti-trafficking raids 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U)  Maria said his office hosts quarterly meetings with 
NGOs working on child trafficking issues, but he was not keen to 
involve NGOs in his unit's investigations.  He complained that 
competition among NGOs trying to prove their worth to donors 
often makes them difficult to work with.  He preferred 
personally selecting the decoys used to expose prostitution, 
picking trustworthy people who could withstand the pressures of 
testifying at trial. 
 
 
 
Criminal Bureau of Investigation Rescues Trafficked Minors 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The anti-trafficking NGO International Justice Mission 
(IJM) confirmed that they had been unsuccessful in trying to 
partner with the Mumbai police, but generally spoke favorably of 
the efforts of police in Mumbai to address trafficking. 
Jonathan Derby, Field Office Director of IJM, reported that 
police in Thane and Navi Mumbai, suburbs of Mumbai, were 
obstructive, not only refusing to work with IJM, but tipping off 
the bar owners that a raid was about to occur.  Instead, IJM 
turned to the federal Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for 
a recent raid, resulting in the arrest of eight adults for 
trafficking and rescue of 34 females, including several minors 
on June 1.  Michelle Mendonca of IJM told Congenoff that IJM's 
investigators met with pimps at a local dance bar, and inquired 
about "fresh girls," meaning virgins.  They were then taken to 
two hotels where they were shown two young girls.  The CBI 
raided the hotels, and arrested four adults for trafficking. 
Media reports state the CBI interviewed the rescued girls, 
resulting in the arrest of four more traffickers and the rescue 
of another 13 girls in Chembur, another Mumbai suburb. 
Officials also reported recovering 479,000 Rupees (10,000 USD) 
in the raids. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The rescued girls were reportedly from Bangladesh and 
the states of West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.  Mendonca 
said that four girls immediately acknowledged that they were 
less than 18 years of age, one as young as 14 years old.  Age 
verification, completed June 5, revealed that 12 were minors, 
according to IJM.  The girls were transferred to a protective 
home under the auspices of the Child Welfare Committee.   Home 
studies will be conducted to see if the minors can be safely 
repatriated to their villages.  The older females are receiving 
counseling to determine whether they are amenable to 
rehabilitation. 
 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  Comment:  Aside from his job as Mumbai's lead 
anti-crime cop, Maria is also the lead investigator into the 
26/11 Mumbai attacks.  Terrorism and other high priorities for 
the Mumbai police have drained resources and attention from 
anti-trafficking efforts, but the establishment of these special 
trafficking units is a milestone for law enforcement in Mumbai. 
And, like anti-terrorism efforts, anti-trafficking work will get 
a big boost from improved cooperation among state-level police 
forces.  Like most police units in India, Mumbai's police lack 
the technology to quickly track cell phone users and integrated 
computers systems to access police reports from other districts, 
both which would aid in cracking terrorism networks as well as 
identifying and disrupting trafficking networks.  Digitizing 
 
MUMBAI 00000305  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
police records and creating a shared data base of records and 
intelligence remains a monumental task for India, especially 
since law and order is a state issue and India is linguistically 
diverse.  While it will take time for this unit to reach full 
strength, this unit's establishment is a positive step.  End 
Comment. 
FOLMSBEE