Agents and commercial sex workers involved in mobile and house prostitution in the City are slowly moving towards its outskirts because of regular raids conducted by Women and Narcotics Squad of City Crime Bureau (WNS).
The number of cases being registered and arrests have drastically come down during the past five months of current year compared to the previous year. 
In mobile prostitution, everything, including choosing a girl, meeting point and taking her to a fixed destination, takes place on mobile phones. Customers take girls to already decided destinations and after completing the act, the agents come and pick up the girls. Whereas, in house prostitution, agents take a house on rent and arrange meeting of customers and girls in the same house.
Compared to 2005 and 2006, the number of cases registered against agents and sex workers and the arrests have come down by 50 per cent
According to official statistics available with Deccan Herald, 113 cases were registered against sex workers and agents in 2005 and 432 were arrested. In 2006, the number of cases registered was 102 and 508 persons were arrested. Till May in 2007, only 19 cases were registered and 119 persons were arrested.
A WNS official attributes the decline in the number of cases to regular raids. “The agents and sex workers have either given up their trade or have moved to other cities out of police fear. Many of them have moved to the outskirts of the City. Some of them have started using service apartments to conduct their ‘activities’. It is extremely difficult for neighbours of a service apartment to guess that there could be a brothel next door,” he said.
“Of course service apartments are being misused. But the service apartment owners and managers will be unaware of what’s going on there. Customers just bribe room boys and manage the show as it’s just a matter of one or two hours. This is what has come to light during interrogation,” he revealed.
Both the pimps and sex workers consider service apartments to be safer  because they think they could escape from the police. “They take flats in these apartments on contract basis. The rent could be Rs 3,000 to 4,000 for 15 days. Once they are done with their work, they move to another service apartment,” say police sources.
Most of the women engaged in commercial sex work in the City are from Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra and West Bengal. “Very  few women from the State are involved in house prostitution. Some of them, however, are from Mysore, Mandya and Shimoga,” said WNS Inspector S Gachinkatti.
Most women from Andhra Pradesh belong to Visakapattanam. During interrogation, many confessed that poverty forced them into flesh trade.
“They say they have no other option but to engage in sex work to shoulder their family responsibilities,” he added.
Age and charges
Majority of the women involved in sex work are aged between 20 and 35. Many married women are also involved in it, said the officer,
The “service” charges differ from one sex worker to the other and range between Rs 500 and 2,000. “The rates depend upon looks, age and also places where they are taken to by their customers. In some instances, customers who prefer service apartments have to pay Rs 5,000 to 6,000 for a girl. The charges are for only  a few hours and girls are not allowed to be with customers for a night.
Agents play an important role in providing “services” to customers. It’s difficult for a customer to directly hire a sex worker as agents fear police raids. Recommendation from an old customer often works and is a safer way.
Modus operandi
The middlemen or the pimps finalise girls based on the taste and need of a customer. They then fix the venue and timing with him and get the ‘maal’ (sex worker) at the decided spot. Most of the time, the sex workers are unaware of the venue.The touts pick up the girls after their job is done.
Agents have a strong network of their own and maintain records. Some of them have taken a house on rent on the outskirts of the City and provide a cook to the sex workers.
Disappointment in life, desertion by husbands and family members and desire to lead luxurious life drive many women to flesh trade.
Most of the sex workers belong to economically weaker section of the society. Some of them are also from the middle classes. “There are a few college girls who also take to the trade to earn easy money. Many of them are from Mumbai. They come to Bangalore for sight-seeing. When they learn (through old sex workers) that agents will arrange everything including air travel and good fee for their service, they stay back and leave after the work is done,” said a police officer.
What after raids
After the raids, agents and sex workers are handed over to judicial custody. However, they manage to come out on bail through their network, which includes lawyers. The Supreme Court has directed the government to set up rehabilitation centres for sex workers after they come out of the prison. But there is no such centre in the State.