Dubai: The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a gang to seven years in jail for trafficking a housemaid who escaped her sponsor to be lured into prostitution.
Four Bangladeshi men, two Indonesian women and a Pakistani man were charged with human trafficking after the Pakistani defendant sold the woman to one of the Bangladeshi defendants for Dh3,500 without her knowledge before she was forced to work as a prostitute. They were convicted by the court and ordered to be deported after serving their jail time.
The 30-year-old Indonesian woman arrived in the country in February last year through a maid service. She worked with several families until she escaped from her last sponsor.
While on social media, she saw a post where an Indonesian woman was looking for Indonesian housemaids. When she got in touch with the Indonesian woman, she was told that an Emirati family needed a housemaid.
“I met the Pakistani defendant who asked for my picture in order to show it to the owner of my new workplace,” said the victim. “After a few days, I was taken to a nearby villa where I met the other defendants who told me that the Pakistani man had sold me and that I would work as a prostitute,” she added.
When she refused to comply, she was locked up inside the villa which was located in Muraqqabat in Deira. The villas was being used as a brothel.
“I tried to escape but I couldn’t,” she said. “After a few days, they gave me a mobile phone without a sim card but I managed to connect it with WIFI and alerted my sister who works as a housemaid for a family in Dubai,” she added.
Her sister informed Dubai Police who raided the place, rescued the victim and arrested the defendants.
“She thought that she would work as a housemaid and was shocked when they told her that she was sold for cash in order to work as a prostitute,” said an Emirati police officer.
“We arrested the Pakistani man and he admitted to selling the woman,” the officer added.
The defendants were charged with human trafficking, running a brothel, illegally locking the victim inside the villa and criminal abetting.
The verdict will be subject for appeal within 15 days.
