Five suspects held after police bust prostitution ring

Sharjah: Police have arrested five Indian men for running a prostitution ring and allegedly kidnapping and forcing women into the trade, a police official said yesterday.

A senior official from Sharjah Police's CID explained that the arrests had been made after police received a tip-off about illicit activities being carried out by the five suspects.

The suspects had allegedly used a number of residential homes in Sharjah and another neighbouring emirate to run their prostitution ring.

"The suspects would wear the traditional national dress and pose as CID officials. We also found out that they used to kidnap women, particularly housemaids, and force them to work as prostitutes," the official said.

Identification

He added that the police managed to identify the suspects who were trying to illegally arrest a young woman who was from another emirate.

The suspects took their victim in a rented vehicle to a residential building in Al Yarmouk area. After discovering their whereabouts, police officers raided the apartment. "Three of the suspects who were inside the apartment tried to escape by jumping out of the apartment's window but we managed to hold them down and prevent them from fleeing.

"We also managed to arrest the other two Indian gang members and four women, who were from India and Bangladesh," the police official said, adding that they had also discovered a large quantity of liquor bottles inside the apartment.

Threatened

While interrogating the women, two claimed that they had been kidnapped from two different locations and that they were forced to enter the suspects' vehicle since they were being threatened with sharp tools.

"We also discovered that the other two women were illegally bought from another human trafficker, who forced them to work as prostitutes."

The suspects confessed to the charges of kidnapping and using the women for prostitution purposes, and that they had used two apartments in Sharjah and Ajman to carry out their illegal activities.

The suspects have been detained and will be referred to Sharjah Public Prosecution.