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Salesman netted for trafficking women through Internet

A salesman allegedly tricked three women he met on social networking sites into coming here to sexually exploit them, a court heard on Sunday.

According to prosecution records, the Syrian, 38, fooled two of the women saying he would marry them and the third with a job offer. But he eventually forced them into prostitution. He also seized their passports. He faced a human trafficking charge in the Court of First Instance.

One of the women, a Dominican visitor, 24, told the prosecutor that she had met the defendant on the Internet.

He claimed that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He also sent her the visa, travel ticket and Dh2,200 for expenses. He then received her with his friend at the Dubai International Airport in November last year.

He took her to his flat in Al Muttaina where she stayed for about two weeks during which he had consensual sex with her several times. They then moved to a bigger flat in Muraqqabat and he asked her to work in prostitution.

When she declined, he promised to find her a job. He took her to night clubs to meet pleasure-seekers but she refused to meet customers.

Another woman, a Colombian visitor, 28, narrated how he ‘interviewed’ her on Skype and offered her a job with a salary of over Dh8,000 at a hotel here.

He sent her the travel ticket, visa and welcomed her at the airport. He took her to his flat where she met the Dominican woman who told her that the defendant had lied to both of them. The defendant tried to talk the Colombian into working as a prostitute. She got beaten up when she lied to the accused that she could not find customers.

She caught the accused by surprise one day in January when she called the Colombian consulate and then called the police.

The third woman, another Colombian visitor, 23, recounted a similar story of how the accused brought her here claiming that he would marry her.

A police major said they knew about the women being locked up in a flat in Muraqqabat.

“When an undercover officer knocked on the apartment door, the women rushed out and the defendant chased them,” he said. They were all taken into police custody for questioning.

During interrogations, the defendant claimed that the women had paid sex with men with their own consent.

He alleged that he beat them whenever they came back late and drunk.

mary@khaleejtimes.com