Bhubaneswar: The growing involvement of foreign nationals in sex rackets in the city has emerged as a headache for police.

There is growing suspicion that a number of pimps are drafting foreign nationals into flesh trade in the state capital.

Earlier, Sunil Meher was arrested for allegedly procuring foreign nationals and engaging them in the illegal trade. However, the cops haven't found any links to Meher, who ran the trade for years before his arrest in April 2016, and two rackets involving foreign nationals they busted recently.

In July, the cops had arrested a 22-year-old Uzbek national for allegedly assaulting cops in an inebriated condition from the Kharavela Nagar area. The police had later found that the girl was hired by a pimp to run a flesh trade.

On Friday, the police rescued three Thai nationals along with two other women during a raid on a spa at Kharavela Nagar. The owner of the spa, Srinivas Nanda, is yet to be nabbed.

"Nanda's arrest would be significant as we would be able to find out the mode of procurement of foreign nationals. His arrest will also help get information about other pimps engaging foreign nationals," said a police officer.

In March last year, the police rescued a 30-year-old sex worker from Kyrgyzstan from an apartment in Chandrasekharpur.

The cops later discovered that Somesh Panda, who had brought her to Bhubaneswar, had close links to Meher.

Deputy commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar, Satyabrata Bhoi said a team has been constituted to apprehend Nanda, the owner of the Thai spa.

"We have also asked concerned police stations to be vigilant about sex rackets in their areas and instructed our men to visit parlours and spas as decoys," said Bhoi.