LARKANA, April 17: Police on Tuesday busted an inter-provincial gang involved in flesh trade after the recovery of two under-aged girls and their “husbands”. The girls from Punjab were reportedly wedded in a village near Dhamraho situated on the outskirts of the city.

SSP Larkana, Aetzaz Ahmed Goraya told journalists that a team of CIA police led by the ASP Larkana Nadeem Qureshi raided kutcha houses situated on the bank of a saline water drain near Dhamraho on Monday.

However, insiders say the raid was conducted on Saturday and corroborate their claim with the presence of girls’ fathers as one had come from Lahore and the other from Faisalabad to Larkana. They claim the time factor which defies fathers’ presence so early.

Police arrested Nizamuddin Jatoi and Imtiaz Jatoi and recovered from the place 12 and 13 years old girls sold to the men for Rs150,000 and Rs35,000, respectively.

The gangs of Sindh and Punjab are helping each other in girls’ trade, the SSP said adding both Nizamuddin and Imtiaz had legalised their business by getting married to the girls.

They being minor couldn’t be married off without the consent of their parents, he said. One girl was abducted from Faisalabad and the other from Lahore and sold in Larkana.

Larkana police, the SSP said, had been assigned to unearth the details of gangs involved in flesh trade, both in Sindh and Punjab. A comprehensive report of this unethical and illegal business will be put forward to Punjab government for further action. The girl from Faisalabad was kidnapped some 45 days back and that from Lahore two years ago, he said. The girls have identified Ramzan and Aslam as their kidnappers who were being traced by police to ascertain their links with criminals in Larkana.

The girls, according to In-charge, Larkana CIA, Khan Tunio had been medically examined at the Chandka Medical College Hospital and kept at a women police station. Police will hand over the girls to parents after recording their statements in court on Wednesday, he said.

The arrested men are being kept at the CIA Centre and a case against them registered on behalf of the state at Dhamraho police station, Tunio said.

He disputed the statement of the arrested men of purchasing and marrying the girls. “The two are involved in human smuggling and had links with gangsters in Punjab.