Dubai: A woman and her friend were freed from a prostitution den shortly after she shared on WhatsApp her location in a Dubai flat with her brother in Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz woman and her countrywoman had been promised to work as maids in Dubai and were flown here in July.

Once the two Kyrgyz women discovered that they had been tricked and were kept in a flat to work as prostitutes, according to records, one of them shared the flat’s location with her brother.

The brother then contacted the Kyrgyz Consulate in Dubai which sent two diplomatic staff to the flat at Dubai International City.

Records showed the consulate’s staff contacted the police that dispatched a patrol team to the flat before it was discovered that the place was being run as a brothel.

Police freed the two Kyrgyz women from the flat while their two other countrywomen, aged 21 and 24, were taken into custody for working as prostitutes in the flat.

A 27-year-old Bangladeshi guard was also apprehended for his involvement in running the flat as a prostitution den.

Prosecutors charged the two arrested Kyrgyz women with working in prostitution and accused the Bangladeshi of sexually exploiting the two women and forcing them into the sex industry.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the 27-year-old Bangladeshi and another suspect, who remains at large, committed a human trafficking crime by tricking the two freed women with a job offer, flew them into Dubai and coerced them to work as prostitutes.

The two men were also accused of running the flat as a brothel.

The Kyrgyz women defendants pleaded not guilty when they showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

They contended before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal that they did not work as prostitutes on their own will but they were forced to work in the sex industry.

When asked by presiding judge Jamal about who had forced them into prostitution, they said it was a Bangladeshi man named Omran.

The Bangladeshi refuted the accusation of committing human trafficking and denied running the flat as a brothel.

A police corporal testified to prosecutors that two Kyrgyz consulate staff members called up the police and reported that there was a problem at the flat.

“We headed to the flat and saw the staff waiting outside near the door. The staff notified us that the relative of one of the Kyrgyz women contacted them from Kyrgyzstan alleging that two women were locked up in the flat … they also alleged that the relative notified them that the women were being forced into prostitution although they had been promised to work as maids. We raided the flat and spotted the Bangladeshi man seated behind a desk at the entrance. The flat was arranged in the form of a brothel whereby there were curtain separators in the bedrooms. An on-site investigation revealed that the female suspects had been willingly working as prostitutes in the flat. The 27-year-old man claimed that the flat was being run as a massage spa and not as a brothel,” the corporal testified to prosecutors.

The Bangladeshi was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that his job was to collect money from clients.

One of the freed women was cited as telling prosecutors that once she realised that they would be forced to work as prostitutes, she shared the flat’s location on WhatsApp with her brother and briefed him on what had happened.

The trial continues.