Men who trafficked teenage girls into Dubai to work as prostitutes are jailed

DUBAI // Two men who brought two teenage girls from Bangladesh to the UAE then forced them to work as prostitutes were sentenced to three years in jail each for human trafficking and running a brothel.

The pair, an Indian aged 46 and a 26-year-old Bangladeshi, were also sentenced to an additional month in jail and fined Dh2,000 each for abusing a number of women, persuading them to work in the sex industry, possessing alcohol and hiring an illegal worker.

The Bangladeshi was also found guilty of overstaying his visa and absconding and was fined Dh500.

Both will be deported after serving their prison terms.

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Dubai Criminal Court was told the girls, aged 16 and 18, were kept in a studio apartment in Deira that was being used as a brothel.

They were rescued after police were tipped off about two under-age girls working as prostitutes.

One of the girls said she took a job in Dubai to help support her family.

“My father is sick and mother works in a field but earns very little. I had to do something to help,” she said. “When I arrived here in January [last year] I was taken to a flat where I spent three days crying after they told me I had to work as a prostitute.”

She was later persuaded to sleep with men after being offered money but was not allowed to leave the flat.

The second victim also arrived in Dubai last January after being promised a maid’s job. She was taken to the same apartment.

“I refused prostitution for 15 days but when I was threatened to be stripped naked, photographed and defamed, I gave in. I used to tell customers about my ordeal and ask for help but none of them helped me,” she said.

Police raided the apartment on April 13 last year.

“Two arrests were made; the man who ran the brothel and another who was keeping guard,” said an Emirati police captain, who told of how contraceptives, lubricants, passports, profit records and bottles of alcohol were found in the apartment, which had been divided up using curtains.

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