Dubai: The Dubai Criminal Court acquitted a Pakistani mother and four other men, who were accused of forcing two teenage girls — the woman’s daughters — into sexual activities at a massage centre.

They were acquitted because of lack of evidence, the court document stated.

The 37-year-old Pakistani mother, S.K., was accused of luring her two daughters, both under 16, to the UAE and forcing them work as masseuses at the massage centre. She was also accused of coercing them to work as prostitutes in May 2014 and June this year.

The 41-year-old Pakistani spa manager, identified as Z.M., was accused of helping the woman.

The alleged illegal activity was discovered by a labour inspector who was on a routine inspection. He found that a 15-year-old Pakistani girl, one of S.K.’s daughters, was hired as a masseuse in Al Karama.

The inspector reported the matter to the police before further investigations revealed the involvement of three other Pakistani suspects.

Prosecutors accused S.K., Z.M., and their three countrymen — O.M., a hairdresser, M.A., an office boy, and F.A., a clerk — of human trafficking.

O.M., M.A. and F.A. denied the charges when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on March 14.

The mother and the spa manager were tried in absentia.

The prosecutors said the five suspects took advantage of the girl’s young age and flew her from Pakistan to Dubai after her mother convinced her that she would allow her to continue her education in the UAE.

The Pakistani teenager told the prosecutors that the incident happened after her father divorced her mother and the latter married an 18-year-old man. The girl said she and her sister were coerced to provide indecent services and massage men against their will in 2014.

“We were beaten, scolded and forced to do an indecent job … Then one of the suspects raped my sister and impregnated her, so my mother took us back to Pakistan to avoid any legal trouble. Then she brought me back here in 2015 and forced me into the same job after she and Z.M. threatened to bring my younger sisters to do the same thing. I tried to run away but I could not because they constantly kept me under observation. One of them also took away my phone when I tried to call the police,” she told the prosecutors in March.