Dubai Court Trial Begins of 7 Men, 1 Woman for Luring Teenage Girls to Work in Prostitution

(AFP/File Photo)

Seven men and a woman, all Pakistanis, have gone on trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance for allegedly luring three compatriot teenage girls to come to the UAE from their country and then making them work in a prostitution racket.

The documents of the case, which dates back to Dec. 7 last year in Al Muraqqabat, indicate that the defendants had passports issued for the victims with fake ages.

They faced charges of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and running a prostitution den.

One of the victims, a 17-year-old, said the female accused and her brother, also among the defendants, invited her to come to the UAE to work in prostitution. "They issued me the needed papers like passport, entry permit and the plane ticket. That woman received me at the Dubai International Airport and took me to her villa in Al Hamriyah. The next day, I was taken to a flat in Al Baraha where I worked as a prostitute."

She told the prosecutor she travelled back home upon her visa expiry and came back twice later for the same business.

"On December 7, 2017, the CID officers raided the flat and nabbed me and the other women and the men who came for paid sex."

One of the defendants jumped out of the balcony and died later at a hospital, the court documents show.

They were all taken to the criminal investigation department.

In her deposition, the victim told the investigators about the job of everyone at the flat like bringing customers, opening the door for them and collecting money from them.

The two other victims, both 17, told a similar story of how they were brought by the group from Pakistan to Dubai to work in prostitution for them.

"We raided the flat in Al Baraha after receiving reliable information that it was being run as a brothel. We had a source tipping us off that underage girls were being sexually exploited there," a police lieutenant said. "An undercover officer and our informant went to the flat and solicited sex with a girl who was under 18. When our task force raided the flat, one of the suspects jumped from the balcony and was badly hurt. He was taken by ambulance to hospital."

The age of some of the girls on their passports was changed to make them older than 18.

Some of them also had consensual sex with the men running the flat. Other prostitutes caught there have been deported.

A customer, who was caught during the police raid, admitted he was walking in Al Baraha when one of the accused offered him sex with a prostitute. He went to the flat and had sex with one of the teen girls and paid Dh100 ($27).

The underage girls were all placed at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.

A court ruling is to be released on May 20.

This article has been adapted from its original source.