DOHA: Law enforcement officials have unearthed several hideouts of runaway domestic workers in different parts of the country and busted two gangs of human traffickers who were harbouring these workers in those places.
The first gang consisted of 18 persons from Southeast Asian countries. They were running as many as 22 hideouts together housing some 49 runaway maids and 39 drivers.
The other gang comprising 19 persons from different nationalities had an Arab national as its lynchpin.
This gang of traffickers was managing six hideouts in different places where 29 runaway maids and 24 other workers were given shelter. According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, all those illegally sheltered in these hideouts that the law enforcement officials zeroed in on and unearthed, were runaway workers and police complaints had been lodged against them by their sponsors.
The ministry statement said the gangs were also employing these workers, without elaborating. It is possible these workers might have been engaged in work illegally and were sharing their earnings with their traffickers.
The Search and Follow-Up Department of the ministry set up a team to conduct raids on the hideouts after tip-offs and sought legal clearance from the Public Prosecution for its planned action.
Swoops by the Department’s sleuths led to the arrest of the gang members as well as the runaway workers.
The gang members, according to the ministry statement, confessed during questioning that they used to ‘smuggle’ the maids and drivers from their ‘sponsors’ homes for a fee and move them out of Doha.
The Director of the Department, Brigadier Nasser Al Sayed, said the above acts that are alien to the Qatari society, amounted to human trafficking under the country’s laws. The matter has been referred to the Prosecution for action.
Al Sayed repeated the warning in the ministry statement that people should not employ or shelter runaway workers and should report to the authorities immediately if one is sighted.
He said his Department will continue its combing drive in an aggressive manner and smoke out and catch runaway workers wherever they are holed up. There is no escape from the law, said the official.
The Peninsula
