Faridkot police have recovered three minor girls, aged approximately 14 to 15 years, who had gone missing from the district on August 12 and were later traced to Mumbai. The police have apprehended two persons in connection with the case, officials said here on Monday.Investigation so far suggests the accused had lured the girls to Mumbai with the possibility of pushing them into trafficking for sexual exploitation.An FIR was registered at Police Station City-2, Faridkot, under Section 137(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), after the girls went missing from their school. Special teams were constituted without delay under the SHO of Police Station City-2, working alongside teams from Police Station City-1, under the overall direction of SP (Investigation) Narinder Singh and SSP Gurbaksh Singh Bains.The SHO of Police Station City-2 said investigators had to scrutinise more than 50 CCTV cameras along the route from the school to the local bus stand and railway station to establish how the girls had left the area. Footage showed them boarding a train, which police used to trace their route first to Delhi and then onward to Mumbai.Investigators also examined the girls’ Instagram and Facebook accounts to narrow down their location, deploying an advance team and a backup team to Mumbai, which eventually recovered the girls safely despite difficult terrain and unfamiliar surroundings.Two persons were apprehended in the case — a man identified as Aasees, who has since been brought to Faridkot on production remand, and a woman identified as Ashwani Kaur, who is yet to be produced before the local court and is awaiting transit from Mumbai. Police said both accused were residing in Mumbai. Ashwani Kaur originally belongs to Punjab’s Tarn Taran area and had moved to Mumbai after leaving her matrimonial home following a dispute with her husband; Aasees belongs to Uttar Pradesh.Police said the accommodation in which the girls stayed in Mumbai had been arranged by the two accused.They added that the full sequence of events, including the extent of any trafficking network involved, is expected to emerge once both accused are questioned. A high-level investigation is continuing to establish whether the case has wider interstate links, and further legal action will be taken in accordance with the facts established during the probe.