Dubai Police save 17-year-old girl from prostitution gang
Raid at hotel room follows tip-off about a teen being forced into prostitution
Dubai: A 17-year-old girl was lured by three people to work in prostitution after they promised her a well-paying job, Dubai Court of First Instance heard.
The two men and a woman — all expatriates — have been sentenced to three years in jail for forcing the teenager, also an expatriate, to work in prostitution. Records showed that the female defendant was on a visit to her home country two years ago where she met the victim and promised her a job in Dubai.
‘Job offer’
“She told me that her boyfriend would help me get a job and increase my income,” said the victim on record. The girl arrived at Dubai International Airport in 2019 and was taken to an apartment in the Al Baraha area of Dubai, where she was forced to work as a prostitute.
The ‘friend’ who had convinced her to come to UAE and another woman were also into prostitution at the same apartment. The girl was moved to a hotel room later, where customers were brought in for her by the defendants.
According to records, the victim told the investigators that the two men, who were running the brothel, paid her Dh1,000 per night when she worked at the hotel room.
Undercover operation
Dubai Police received information about the teen being forced into prostitution in a hotel room. An undercover police officer, posing as a customer, was deployed to verify the information. The undercover officer then signalled to another policeman who raided the room and arrested the two male defendants. The woman was caught in another room in Al Baraha.
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Court sentence
All three defendants were charged with human trafficking and running a brothel, which they denied.
The court sentenced them to three years in jail, to be followed by deportation. The woman was sentenced to six months in jail for working as a prostitute.
Another woman was also arrested for prostitution and was sentenced to six months in jail, to be followed by deportation. She was additionally slapped with a Dh5,000 fine for failing to report offences of human-trafficking to the authorities.