14-year-old Tania* had just arrived in India after being lured away from her home in Bangladesh. She thought that she was going to be working a reputable job.
Instead, she was trapped in a brothel alongside other young women from Bangladesh. She didn’t speak the local language, but her traffickers were still able to make it clear: she was expected to offer sexual services to customers.
The Exodus Road’s team in India heard about Tania and worked as quickly as possible to let law enforcement partners know what was happening. Coordinating an operation takes time. It was midnight when our team and police arrived at the hotel where the brothel was concealed.
Officials found three young women in the brothel, scared and traumatized. But Tania was not there. Two traffickers were on site, and they were immediately taken into custody. But accomplices had disappeared into the night with Tania.
Three women are now safe, receiving restorative aftercare. Two traffickers are facing up to 10 years in prison. But Tania is still out there. Our teams are working tirelessly to find out where she was taken, to help bring her to safety.
This case is an example of the heartbreak inherent to anti-trafficking work. Wily traffickers move their victims often, making it difficult to collect real-time evidence. Sometimes, that means a bittersweet outcome: joy for those who were recovered, and regret for those who are not yet free — girls like Tania.
Long-term support is essential to empowering our teams to keep looking for girls like her. Thank you for being relentlessly committed to freedom!
*Name and image representative
