Balurghat, July 14: Two women and a man were arrested from a bus headed for Malda, from Gangarampur bus stand, last night for being involved in a girl-trafficking racket.

The arrests come a day after a woman was held on similar charges.

Three minor girls and a 24-year-old woman were rescued from the clutches of the trio. Two other minors had been rescued the previous night.

Acting on a tip-off from an NGO, Tapan Karmadyog Samity, the police raided the bus last night and rescued Rina Murmu, 13, Luchia Hembrom, 14, Talmani Hembrom, 15, and Shefali Das, 24, who were being taken to Delhi with promises of a job and a fat salary.

The police arrested Sumita Tudu, Lata Das and Dlip Hembrom. Two others, Sujan Tudu and Pradeep Tudu, managed to flee.

Concerned over growing child trafficking in the district, vigilance at the inter-district bus terminus and rail stations has been heightened.

District superintendent of police Daniel TShering Lepcha said: “The trend in the sex industry in major metropolitan cities is to get young girls. The younger they are, the more the demand. There is more money where the minors are concerned.”

The police had arrested Venrika Hembrom alias Rani, a resident of Mahinagarh Missionpara in Balurhat police station area, on Monday night. Rani had been luring minor girls and selling them off into the flesh trade.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided her house on Monday night and saved two girls, Minita Kishku, 14, and Shefali Besra, 15, of Kardaha in Tapan police station area moments before they were being taken to Delhi.

According to Lepcha, Rani had returned from Delhi only a few days ago. She had taken with her two minor girls Puja Thakur, 15, and Mamoni Murmu, 14, and sold them into prostitution.

Rani told the interrogating officers that she had, before selling off Puja and Mamoni, done the same with Martina, Rezina, Aloka, Sumita and many other girls from the district. She would lure minor girls with the promise of a good life in big cities.

The police produced Rani in front of the subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court yesterday. The court remanded her in 14-day police custody.

Lepcha said a police team from Balurghat would leave for Delhi with Rani to look for the girls she had sold off during her previous trips.