Dubai: Less than a week ago, a 15-year-old sex trade victim turned to Dubai Police to free her from her captors after she managed to escape with the assistance of a client.
Captain Ahmad Obaid Bin Hadibah, Head of Dubai Police's Department of Combating Human Trafficking, told Gulf News the section handled 15 cases of human trafficking in the first nine months of this year, which is close to the figure dealt with in the same period in 2008.
The department rescued 20 victims in the 15 cases this year and arrested 44 suspects involved in human trafficking, which represents around 95 per cent of the criminals involved, while the rest are still on the run.
The gang behind coercing the victim into prostitution was recently arrested, although the department received very little information from the victim about the gang, he said, while estimating her age to be around 15 years.
The three-member Asian gang was arrested on Wednesday for operating a brothel in Al Baraha with their first victim being this 15-year-old girl, who was forced into prostitution for around 15 days before she managed to escape.
The girl was rescued by one of the clients who listened to her plea, he said. According to her statements to the police, the client called a taxi and requested the driver to take her to the nearest police station.
Conned
As in most cases of human trafficking, the girl was conned into believing she would get a decent job in Dubai. Most come to work as housemaids or a waitresses at an upmarket restaurant or hotel.
According to Captain Bin Hadibah, the major human trafficking case handled by Dubai Police this year was the escape of four Bangladeshi victims in their early twenties who were severely abused, both physically and sexually.
The four victims were brought into the country at different periods with most of them forced into prostitution for two months before making their escape during May of this year.
They were beaten and repeatedly sexually assaulted by a gang composed of five men and a woman, as an extreme measure to coerce them into prostitution. The suspects were recently arrested — bar one, as he is still on the run.
Most traffickers and victims are Asian, with some from Eastern Europe, and their ages range from 18 to 26 years old.
According to him, two out of the 20 victims this year have contracted Aids and one contracted Hepatitis B, he said.
Most of the girls tend to be in "a very terrible and weak state when they are found and rescued by Dubai Police. But in a few cases the girl comes to the country with the intention of getting involved in prostitution," he said.
Describing the nature of these crimes, he said, "many of the cases were very strange, [specifically] the method and deals used in the trading of victims. The gangs or mafia involved operate from abroad to benefit a specific organisation operating illegally."
Some of the traffickers have a previous record in human trafficking but the ones involved in Dubai did not have any. He said: "We capture both the trafficker and the clients ... who are involved in buying or sexually taking advantage of the girls."
Most of the arrests are made by ambushing the criminals, with most of them being either in the country on visit visas and with a few being illegal immigrants.
"Other cases involve getting information through investigations and sources in the field. In some cases the families of the victims contact the police to voice their concern after not hearing from their children for a long time, and in a few cases the victim manages to escape," said Captain Bin Hadibah. In one case an Eastern European girl in her early twenties jumped from the balcony of an apartment she was being locked up in, Bin Hadibah said. In another case an Indonesian domestic helper managed to escape following six months of sexual exploitation.
The girl was persuaded to abscond from her sponsor by a woman she met in the street, to seek employment at another household with a better salary.
To her shock the other household was a place for prostitution, said Bin Hadibah, while adding that her going to the police helped them in capturing two men and a woman who were involved in convincing over 30 maids to escape from their sponsors. Demand for such illegal activities is high globally and economic difficulties in victims' home countries is a major contributor as well as a poor educational background.
"We are currently in coordination with the Human Trafficking Crimes Monitoring Centre at Dubai Police working on a scientific study about human trafficking in Dubai," he said while adding many efforts and emphasis are made to combat and make people aware people of human trafficking be it locally, regionally, or internationally.
What the law says on the crime
The federal law issued in 2006 stipulates imprisonment and fines for individuals or organisations involved in the crime. According to the law, corporate bodies will be liable to a fine ranging from between Dh100,000 and Dh1 million if their representatives, managers, or agents are convicted in a human trafficking crime.
The UAE National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons was created in April 2007 as the coordinating body for anti-trafficking efforts at all levels in the seven emirates of the federation. The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children specialises in dealing with the health and psychological traumas of the victims.
Meanwhile, there is close coordination with governmental or non-governmental institutions in their home countries to ensure they are safe upon returning to their home countries so as to see that they don't get involved in a similar incident, said Captain Ahmad Obaid Bin Hadibah, Head of Dubai Police's Department of Combating Human Trafficking.
"If we are ranking financial benefits from crimes of human trafficking based on international figures, in the past, smuggling weapons and drugs as well as human trafficking were ranked third but now human trafficking tops weapons smuggling in the revenue/profits it brings to its traffickers," he said.