Thirteen members of a gang, including four women, allegedly involved in trafficking of girls and women were arrested by a joint team of the police and the district probation officer from Robertsganj area of Sonbhadra district here in Uttar Pradesh, a police officer said here on Tuesday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr Yesh Veer Singh said that 13 people, including four women, were arrested by the joint team of DPO Sudhanshu Sharma and Robertsganj police from Chandi crossing late on Monday evening.

"Three members of the gang managed to flee from the spot, taking advantage of the crowd," he said.

He said that the gang members used to sell girls from Sonbhadra district on the pretext of marriage after paying hefty amounts and used to sell them in other states, including Rajasthan and Haryana, and used to make huge margins.

The SP said that the gang members also used to lure the husbands and in-laws of married women by paying hefty amounts and used to sell them in Rajasthan.

He said that the gang members also used to arrange marriages of minor girls with middle-aged men after charging hefty amounts.

He said that the DPO and the Robertsganj police received a tip off that some people have come to Sonbhadra to make a deal for a girl for Rs 3 lakh.

"Acting on the tip off the joint team carried out a raid and arrested 13 people. On being questioned the arrested accused revealed that they transferred Rs 1.20 lakh in the account of the mother of the girl and paid her Rs 80,000 cash. The remaining amount was to be paid after the deal," he said.

Singh said that those who have been arrested have been identified as Sanwala Ram, Taga Ram, Bhawara Ram, all residents of Rajasthan, Mansukh, Vijay Kumar, Rajendra Yadav alias Raju, Prashant Mishra, Meera Devi, Shiv Kumari, Munni Devi and Kalawati.

"A case along with Rs 80,000 cash and 6 mobile phones were recovered from their possession," he said.

(With UNI inputs)