Telangana Drug Racket: Women Lured With Fake US Job Offers, Drugged and Exploited (AI-image)
Hyderabad: What began as a routine arrest for drug possession last year has unravelled into a disturbing racket in Telangana, where young women were allegedly drugged, sexually exploited, and stripped of their savings under the guise of lucrative job opportunities abroad.
In May 2023, the anti-narcotics squad of Telangana Police arrested a 28-year-old small-time businessman for buying drugs, as per a TOI report. What seemed like a simple case soon led to the discovery of a sinister operation. The accused, posing as the owner of a small IT company, allegedly lured women with promises of jobs in the United States.
Victims, most of them with basic qualifications such as B.Com and BSc, were contacted through social media and shady job consultants. Believing the offer to be genuine, many paid large sums upfront for ‘training sessions’ and paperwork.
An FIR was filed in May last year, but the scale of exploitation surfaced only recently after women shared their trauma with psychologists at de-addiction centres. Senior police officers said that at least six women had been identified so far, with four of them sent for counselling and treatment, as per the report.
Victims Speak Out
“I applied for a job after seeing an ad on a social networking site,” said a 27-year-old woman from Nellore. “The job offered a Rs 15,000 salary. Because I had no work experience, I paid Rs 50,000 upfront for training sessions. The businessman promised to send me to the US after working in Hyderabad for a year.”
Separated from her husband and mother to a young child, she recalled how her employer convinced her to undergo a lifestyle makeover to prepare for life abroad. “During the week, we worked on what seemed to be legitimate IT-related projects. On weekends, we were regularly taken to parties at farmhouses and resorts. They gave us tablets or something we could not identify on a piece of paper, ostensibly to avoid hangovers after drinking binges. Everything was hazy after that,” she said.
Her realisation came only after undergoing mandatory counselling for addicts. “I thought I could trust this group as we all worked together. It was only after attending mandatory counselling for addicts that I realised the situation I was in,” she added. Struggling to cope, she even attempted suicide after being booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Another woman recounted a similar experience. “My friend referred me to it, so I believed the opportunity was genuine. At a party, they put a piece of paper in my mouth and gave me something to drink. After that, I don’t know what happened,” she said.
Drugs and Exploitation
Police said the women were given heavy drugs, including LSD, MDMA, cocaine and even date rape substances. The victims revealed that they often had no memory of how many times they were exploited or by whom.
A 22-year-old woman, also caught in the trap, said: “I believed I was working on a project for an MNC while in the company. A couple of months after joining, I was told that visa processing would cost lakhs. They offered to deduct the amount from my salary, and I agreed, thinking I was already giving interviews to clients in the US.” She added that she was introduced to party culture only after joining the firm, and later discovered the presence of drugs after her boss was arrested.
Experts say women were systematically groomed into addiction and exploitation. “I have seen at least six such cases. They did not suspect anything as women were used to lure other women. Seniors were grooming them and introducing them to various substances, either knowingly or unknowingly,” said Devika Rani, a de-addiction expert.
Police officials noted a common pattern among the victims; most lacked degrees from reputed institutions and were desperate to find a shortcut into the IT industry, especially opportunities abroad. Coming from modest backgrounds, they were easily persuaded to invest their limited resources in the hope of escaping financial struggles.
