Police have arrested 18 people along with a mother who sold her 15-year-old daughter into prostitution after posting advertisements on the internet.
Several businessmen and a robed man were among those arrested.
The girl was sold for between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 30,000. The Child and Women Abuse Prevention Bureau states that the arrested businessmen and the robed man had obtained services from the girl.
Among those arrested were a three-wheeler driver who took her to the callers from the Internet ad, a car driver and a person who was involved in preparing her advertisement and publishing it on the internet.
Investigations have revealed that the girl was first raped by her father.
She and her mother, a resident of Malwana, had come to a rented house in Mt. Lavinia for this and investigations have revealed that she had been sold for money by her mother’s illegitimate husband with the help of her mother. He is a resident of Kiribathgoda.
According to information received by the Mount Lavinia HQI, the girl was taken into police custody on the 7th and several persons were arrested on her information. Further investigations were handed over to the Child and Women Abuse Prevention Bureau by order of the IGP.
Preliminary investigations by the Mount Lavinia Police have revealed that the girl’s mother was also a woman who was being sold for money and that she too had been sold to various people at high prices.
The Bureau of Prevention of Child and Women Abuse states that information is being revealed about another groups who bought the girl for money and investigations are underway to arrest them as well.
