Bhubaneswar: Police busted a gang suspected human trafficking racket and arrested six persons. Four of them are from Maharashtra.

The cops said the accused had been nabbed while they were conducting a placement drive for plumbers, drivers, gardeners and carpenters in the Gulf countries without any authorisation.

The accused have been identified as Asagar Ali Sayeed, 40, Sajid Ali Maniyar, 40, Shaikh Nizzamuddin Gayauddin, 40, and Mustak Mohammad Shaikh, 35, all belonging to various places in Maharashtra and Pramaod Kumar Maharana, 35, and Chittaranjan Maharana, 30, from Khurda, who had been roped in by the other four to conduct the placement drive.

Police commssioner Y.B. Khuarnia said the accused were conducting a placement drive at a guest house near Kolathia from Sunday and around 300 aspirants took part in the interview process.

"All the four accused from Maharashtra claimed to be representatives of a major oil company in Kuwait. They also claimed to own a travel agency in Mumbai while two other persons, Pramod and Chittaranjan, also introduced themselves as tour operators. The Maharashtra-based accused produced documents claiming to be issued by the immigration department of Indian government that were found to be forged," said Khurania.

The police have seized 75 Indian passports of the aspirants, hundreds of visiting cards of various travel agencies, more than 200 biodatas and several voter IDs, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards from the accused. The cops said the four accused from Maharashtra have contact in the Gulf countries.

Police said further investigation revealed the accused of conducting similar placement drives in Khurda and Kendrapara districts in the recent past.

"This was their first operation in Bhubaneswar. The accused used to maintain that the recruitment was free and once the aspirants booked the flight tickets, they used to demand Rs 50,000 and more from each of the aspirants. Further investigation is on to find out whether the victims were indeed provided with jobs or engaged as bonded labourers," said a police official.