Two Malda minors lured in name of K-Pop stint; both rescued from traffickers

Two minor girls from West Bengal's Malda district were safely rescued by law enforcement authorities after falling prey to an elaborate online grooming scheme. The victims, both studying in Class 6, had abruptly run away from their respective homes after being enticed through various social media platforms with false promises of lucrative modeling assignments and K-pop stardom opportunities in South Korea. Investigating officers suspect the entire operation might be linked to a structured interstate or international human trafficking network exploiting young children.

According to preliminary digital evidence analyzed by investigators, the young girls had been in steady communication for nearly a year with an online handler operating under the digital pseudonym "Dighi Sarkar." The perpetrator systematically gained the trust of the minors via platforms like Pinterest and specific private messaging groups named "Demons." Over months of grooming, the handler instructed the girls to learn Korean language phrases, familiarize themselves with the culture, and eventually convinced them to leave their homes secretly to travel toward Bhutan as a transit route to East Asia.

The rescue operation was launched immediately after the panicked families filed missing person complaints at the local police station. Tracking the digital footprints and transit routes, police discovered that the minors had boarded a commercial bus headed toward Siliguri, where they were scheduled to meet unidentified members of the syndicate at the Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus. Cooperating closely with a local non-governmental organization, police intercepted the bus in the Naukaghat area, successfully took the girls into protective custody, and reunited them with their families while initiating a wider digital investigation.