3 more Omanis held over marriage case

Police arrest chief Qazi who allegedly provided brides to foreign nationals using a network of brokers

The Hyderabad Police yesterday arrested three more Oman nationals along with two locals, including a chief Qazi, in connection with the alleged trafficking of minor girls from the city under the guise of ‘contract marriages’ with elderly men from Gulf countries.

Omani national Al Sheyadi Sulaiman, 70 years, who claimed before police that he came to the city for medical treatment, was found to have actually come here for his marriage and was looking for minor girls, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) V Satyanarayana told reporters here.

A broker from Oman identified as Al Shayadi Mohammad Khalfan had brought Sulaiman here to perform his marriage and investigation is underway to find out other victims who were trapped by him and trafficked to Oman and other Gulf countries, the DCP said.

The third Omani national Al Awdi Yasir, who married a city woman, had brought one visually challenged 75-yearold Oman national Abdullah Mubarak, who had already married ten times before for another marriage, the senior police official said.

Along with the three Omani nationals, police also arrested chief Qazi Ali Abudullah Rifai, who allegedly provided girls to foreign nationals by maintaining a network of brokers, including women, to hunt for girls from poor families of the city, Satyanarayana said.

He said they also arrested one local person Nayab Ebrahim, who assisted Rifai in performing the marriages of Arab nationals.

All the three Omani nationals were in touch with Rifai, he said.

Police have also initiated measures to deport two other Oman nationals — Abdullah Mubarak and Al Shayadi Sulaiman Khamis Mohammad, son of 70-year-old Al Sheyadi Sulaiman, for want of evidence, the official said.

Mubarak, who works as an Imam in Oman, is visually challenged and a chronic kidney patient undergoing dialysis thrice a week, said the official.

He had come to Hyderabad under the guise of treatment, the DCP said, adding investigation revealed he was already married ten times before to young girls from the city, but most of them either have shifted their residences while others have requested that their names should not be revealed.

Police teams are continuing searches of middlemen who are facilitating marriages of minor girls and luring them with false promises of bright future in foreign countries, he said.