Hyderabad Police busted a marriage racket by arresting eight Arab sheikhs and around 20 local middlemen who were in involved in performing marriages with minor Muslim girls and documentation.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, South Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana said we have identified nearly 15 brokers from the city who are staying in Oman and Qatar and make contact with sheikhs who are in search of teen brides.
These brokers get in contacts with Hyderabadi locals whose primary job is to search and identify poor families who are ready to give away their daughters in the name of marriage to Arab nationals for money. These families ignore the difference of age and opinion of the groom.
Once such deal is fixed, brokers invite sheiks to Hyderabad and arrange interviews with poor minor girls. Once the financial package, ranging from 3 lakh to 10 lakhs, is agreed, brokers perform Nikah and indulge in processing the necessary documentation for visas. Later, these newly wedded minors end up in getting exploited by several others at their so called house of husband.
The arrested Omani nationals are Al Salehi Talib Humeid Ali, Al Mayah Ali Issa, Al Salehi Nasser Khalif Hamed, Al Ubaidani Juma Shinoon Sulaiman, Al Qasimi Hassan Mazaaul Mohammed. Omer Mohammed Seraj Abdal Rahman, Hamad Jabir o Al-Kuwari,and Safeldin Mohammed Salih are from Qatar.
The police also arrested Farid Ahmed Khan, the chief qazi from Mumbai, who facilitated the marriage of a minor girl recently from Falaknuma. Two other qazis from Hyderabad and four lodge owners and five brokers too were held.
The police said this network includes nearly 35 brokers, mostly women, spreading from Gulf countries to Hyderabad.
To facilitate such marriages some of the brokers have converted residential homes and apartments into plush guesthouse to accommodate the sheikhs.
Besides arresting these eight men, police also conducted several raids in the old city hotels and warned on the consequences for any illegal activities.
