Dubai Police free 17-year-old girl from prostitution

Dubai - She called the police for help.

Three Bangladeshi men have been charged at a Dubai court with human trafficking as they had allegedly forced a 17-year-old girl into prostitution.
The Court of First Instance heard that the three men, aged 28, 20 and 28, brought the victim from their home country with a forged passport and a fake job offer. They then locked her up and forced her to have sex with men for money at their flat in Al Quoz.
They have also been accused of running their flat as a den for prostitution. Several women, who worked willingly for them, were deported administratively.
Two defendants are detained while the third, who received the underage girl at the airport, together with other accomplices, is at large and has been charged in absentia.
The case dates back to April 7.
During the investigation, the victim recounted that she was tricked into travelling to the UAE with a job offer at a massage spa.
However, at the flat where she was taken, the women told her about her real job. She cried as she did not want to work as a prostitute. She said the defendants coerced her to work for them after threatening her that she would not be allowed to go back to her country if she did not pay back Dh13,000, which they claimed they spent on her passport and other travel expenses.
She recalled that her captors changed her real age in her passport. They would also offer her to men for sex telling them that she is just 17. She called the police after a Pakistani man gave her a number.
A police lieutenant told the prosecutor they raided the flat in Al Quoz at 11pm on April 7. "Following a complaint received by the police, we raided the flat with a public prosecution warrant. We freed the victim, arrested some of the defendants who were there and five women."
The trial will continue on July 8.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai