DUBAI // Four men who lured a woman into prostitution, forced her to have sex with men for Dh30, and nearly starved her to death have been jailed for 10 years each. The Bangladeshi defendants were yesterday convicted by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance of human trafficking, operating a brothel and illegal incarceration.
The defendants, NM, 31, AS, MS and MJ, all aged 30, denied the charges, but were convicted by the presiding judge, El Saeed Bargouth. The men were caught when they attempted to sell the Indonesian woman, identified as WT, 26, for Dh5,000 to police officers in a sting operation. Officers with Dubai Police's anti-human trafficking task force set up the trap after they received a tip-off about a proposed sale. The victim worked as a maid for an Emirati family in Mirdif, where she was paid Dh700 a month, and shared responsibility for the house with another woman.
She and her colleague were offered a job at a restaurant for more money and absconded from their sponsor. When they arrived, she said, one defendant locked them up and told them they would be working as prostitutes. He kept them locked up for days without food and nearly starved them to death. WT said she and her colleague were beaten and forced to have sex with men for Dh30, six days a week. She told the court she her colleague suddently disappeared days before she herself was rescued.
She said she was told the woman had been sold to a Bangladeshi man for Dh5,500. Prosecutors were also told the victim was regularly abused and beaten along with other prostitutes who were housed with her. Police contacted the men through an informant and set up the purchase. The men were offered Dh5,000 and were apprehended at Al Baraha Hospital. During the sting operation the woman attempted to escape and was found and calmed by officers.
The men have two weeks to file an appeal.
amustafa@thenational.ae
