June 3: The child trafficking racket run by a priest from his church in Padappai near Chennai, busted by the police recently, has turned out to be much larger than the cops initially believed.

A Krishnagiri police special team has picked up the woman head of a purported human rights group from Puducherry for being part of the trafficking ring and arrested a second priest, Selvam, who investigating officials say was in cahoots with racket mastermind Alphonse Xavier. Selvam runs a church in Villupuram district.

Investigators now believe that the sinister nexus between the priests and the human rights group could have been responsible for at least a dozen more cases of child abduction. The police also said investigations indicated that the child trafficking ring could have a Chennai link.

“We have arrested six people including two priests and three women in connection with cases of missing children in our district,” said a senior Krishnagiri police officer on Thursday. “We have also picked up a woman who claims to be the head of a self-styled human rights outfit.”

The trafficking ring was exposed after Ramakka, a woman from Hosur, lodged a complaint with the police about the abduction of her 3-month-old son on May 18. She said a woman who had befriended her had kidnapped the child from the Krishnagiri bus stand.

The cops zeroed in on the suspect, Danalakshmi, the next morning but she had already handed over the child to two women from Perambur. “We then traced the child in Perambur and arrested three people there,” the officer said. Dhanalakshmi confessed to have stolen a 3-year-old boy who was reported missing in December 2009 and said that the child had been handed over to a Alphonse Xavier for Rs 5000. Xavier and Selvam had sold the child to a family in Ginjee. “We arrested the priests and traced the boy, who was reunited with his parents last week,” the Krishnagiri officer said.

Meanwhile, state government officials, continuing their drive to identify unlicensed orphanages, on Wednesday rescued 17 children from an illegal home in Nagercoil.