DUBAI Authorities here have busted a prostitution ring whose members allegedly beat up a Bangladeshi woman and held her in a cell where she was raped and pimped to paying customers.
Four Bangladeshi citizens – three men and a woman – stood before the Court of First Instance on Wednesday to face charges of human trafficking and rape.
The 27-year-old woman accused S.A., a 35-year-old jobless fellow countryman, and M.A., a 26-year-old Bangladeshi housemaid, of human trafficking and running a brothel.
Court records show that the accused conned the woman with promises of a decent job in the UAE, but turned her into a sex worker as soon as she landed in the country.
The accomplices – N.A., 23, and R.A., 28 – also faced charges of abetting the crime, beating her and forcing her to sleep with customers.
“I initially worked at a massage therapy centre for two months,” the woman stated in court records.
“But because I could not speak any other language other than my native tongue, they (S.A. and M.A.) told me that I could not continue my job and, instead, must work as a prostitute. Of course, I refused.”
According to the charge sheet, the first and second suspect beat the woman until she agreed to do their bidding in exchange for a salary of Dh1,350 a month.
“I only lasted 20 days, during which I was shuffled from one apartment to the other in which I gave myself to strangers, until I couldn’t take it anymore,” said the woman.
She told the court that when she pleaded with the suspects to send her back home, they beat her and locked her up for three days.
“During those three days, he (S.A.) raped me twice,” the victim told the court.
On July, 3, the human trafficking hotline received a call from the woman in which she told police that she was being held behind the Bangladeshi consulate in Al Muteenah and was being forced to work as a prostitute. Police made the arrests shortly afterwards.
The next hearing is set for later this month.
