Four Indians arrested in New Jersey for human trafficking and forced labour operation

Four Indian nationals were arrested on human trafficking charges after authorities uncovered a forced labour operation in Collin County. The arrests were made in March, but Princeton Police Department recently released details of the extensive investigation.

The investigation began on March 13 when police responded to a welfare call regarding suspicious activities at a home on the 1000 block of Ginsburg Lane. A pest control company had reported seeing multiple young women sleeping on the floors in each room of the house, prompting police to investigate further.

Princeton Police Sergeant Carolyn Crawford revealed that the forced labour scheme involved over a dozen individuals, with more than half being victims. “I can probably say over 100. Easily,” she stated. The arrested individuals, identified as Chandan Dasireddy (24), Dwaraka Gunda (31), Santhosh Katkoori (31), and Anil Male (37), were charged with trafficking of persons.

The victims, both men and women, were reportedly working as programmers under the control of the traffickers. Authorities seized multiple laptops, phones, printers, and fraudulent documents during their search of the house, although the specific details of the alleged shell companies involved have not been disclosed.

Princeton Police Chief James Waters, who led the investigation for several months, described the discovery as unique. He mentioned that the initial findings led to uncovering numerous other clues and scenes related to forced labour operations. Further investigations revealed additional locations involved in the scheme across Princeton, Melissa, and McKinney.