Four Telugu persons charged with human trafficking in US

Hyderabad: The Princeton Police in Texas, USA, issued arrest warrants against four Telugu individuals living in North Texas for human trafficking, a second-degree felony, on Monday.

The warrants were issued to Santhosh Katkoori, 31, Dwaraka Gunda, 31, Chandan Dasireddy, 24, and Anil Male, 37.

According to a media release by the Princeton Police, in response to a welfare concern and suspicious circumstances, Princeton Police dispatched officers to the 1000 block of Ginsburg Lane on March 13, 2024, at approximately 3 pm.

After further investigation of the initial report, Princeton Police CID detectives obtained a search warrant for the home of Santhosh Katkoori, where 15 adult females were located.

During the investigation, it was discovered that the females were forced to work for Katkoori and multiple programming shell companies owned by him and his wife, Dwaraka Gunda. While the search warrant was executed, multiple laptops, cell phones, printers, and fraudulent documents were seized. It was later determined that multiple locations within Princeton, Melissa, and McKinney were involved in the forced labour of the victims, including adult males.

Additional laptops, cell phones, and documents were seized from the other locations. Once all the electronics were examined, the details of the operations were confirmed, and arrest warrants were issued to the four who were charged with trafficking of persons, second-degree felony.

According to several local media reports from the United States, these 'trafficked' women were forced to sleep on the floor with no furniture, surrounded by computer electronics and blankets.

Initially, a pest control company called for possible bed bugs, discovered young women sleeping on floors and contacted the police.

While Santhosh, Dwaraka, and Chandan belonged to Melissa, Anil Male is a resident of Prosper.

According to these local reports, the pest control inspector discovered that three to five women shared each room, sleeping on the floor, and also noticed the suitcases lying in the room. Growing suspicious of the circumstances, the pest control company informed the police.