Dubai: Police officers who raided a prostitution den in Dubai were shocked to find a young girl who told them that her uncle brought her to the country to work in prostitution after obtaining a passport with ten years added to her real age, officials said on Tuesday.

Dubai Police on Tuesday revealed details of the human trafficking case saying they rescued the 14-year-old Asian girl after two months of misery when she had been raped and forced to work in prostitution.

Lieutenant-Colonel Abdul Rahman Al Shair, director of the Human Trafficking Monitoring Department at Dubai Police, said a Bangladeshi man and woman who were running the brothel were arrested along with other prostitutes.

“Her uncle in her home country obtained a passport for her after changing her birth certificate to show her age as 24 while she is only 14. The uncle convinced her father to send her to the Gulf to work in a salon. Two men smuggled her into Dubai and locked her up at a massage centre and raped her,” Lt-Col Al Shair said. When she refused to work in prostitution, she was beaten and forced to do so.

“The girl said that she didn’t get any money for her work and she doesn’t know if the suspects had sent the money to her parents. She was forced to have sex with strangers several times everyday despite her pleas for mercy from the suspects,” Lt-Col Al Shair added.

The girl has been handed over to the Dubai Foundation for Woman and Children for her rehabilitation and the two suspects referred to the Public Prosecution to finish the investigation after they were charged with human trafficking and running a brothel.

The police is coordinating with the authorities in the Asian country to prosecute the uncle.

The police have recorded three human trafficking cases this year compared to seven cases last year, in a significant drop which, police said, could be achieved because of intensive efforts and raising awareness among the public.

“We had only three human trafficking cases this year but this one is the most cruel because the victim is a minor,” Lt-Col Al Shair said.