Police raid brothel following distress call by man on behalf of victim who asked him for help.
Two Asian men and five women were sentenced to different jail terms on charges of detaining a housemaid, beating her up and forcing her into prostitution and running a brothel.
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the men and one of the women guilty of human trafficking and running a brothel and sentenced each of them to 10 years in jail. The other women were given one-year jail terms for indulging in prostitution.
The court also ordered their deportation after their jail terms and asked the authorities to shut down the house in the Hor Al Anz neighbourhood of Deira from where the accused were arrested.
The case dated back to July last year, when the police were tipped off by someone that a woman had asked him to help her as she was forced into prostitution.
The man led the police to the house in Hor Al Anz where the woman was locked up.
A policeman was sent as a decoy customer to the house. He told a male suspect found in the house that he was interested in having sex. The suspect told him that the work timing of the girls was over, and if he wanted, he could come the next day. It appeared that the suspect had doubts that the customer could be a cop in plainclothes and asked the sex workers to leave the house.
By the time, the policeman alerted his colleagues waiting outside and they raided the house and arrested two men.
On searching the rooms where the girls were staying, the police found condoms and money.
One of the five arrested girls told the police that a suspect had issued her a visa to come to the UAE to work as domestic helper, but when she arrived, the prime suspect told her that she would work in the flesh trade. When she refused, he assaulted and beat her up and locked her up in a house for three days. His accomplices also beat her up several times with a leather belt until she agreed to do as they said.
The arrested women were S.A. 25, who was an accomplice of the men; Y.Y.B.S., 39; S.H., 40; M.A.A. 36; and A.B.T., 24 — all housemaids.
The Public Prosecution charged the two men and S.A. with human trafficking, detaining a woman against her will, forcing her into prostitution as well as running a brothel.
