The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted a gang of fraudsters to seven years in jail for trafficking a housemaid to be lured for prostitution.
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According to court records, 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 AED 3,500 without her knowledge, only later to be forced into prostitution.
Housemaid in Dubai Trafficked for Prostitution Escapes Captors then Have them Arrested
The 30-year-old Indonesian housemaid arrived in the UAE back in February last year through a maid service. Since then, she has worked for several employers until her recent escape from her last employer, the Gulf News reported.
The housemaid shared that a post on social media caught her attention. It said that an Indonesian woman was looking for Indonesian housemaids.
When she contacted the person who shared the post on social media, she was told that an Emirati family was looking to hire a housemaid.
The victim recounted, “I met the Pakistani defendant who asked for my picture to show it to the owner of my new workplace,” adding that a few days after, she was brought to a nearby villa where she met the other defendants who informed her that a Pakistani man had sold her and that she was to work as a prostitute.
However, when the victim refused to comply, she was locked up inside the villa which was located in Muraqqabat in Deira. She then learned that several villas there were being used as a brothel.
The victim shared, “I tried to escape but I couldn’t,” further explaining “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.”
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Upon learning of her situation and whereabouts, the victim’s sister contacted the Dubai Police who immediately raided the place, rescued the victim, and arrested the defendants.
According to an Emirati police officer, “She [the victim] 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.”
When the police discovered the gang’s operation in their hideout, they were able to arrest the Pakistani man and he admitted to selling the woman.
The defendants were charged with human trafficking, running a brothel, illegally locking the victim inside the villa, and criminal abetting.
They were convicted by the Dubai Court and were ordered to be deported after serving their jail time.
The verdict will be subject to legal appeal within 15 days.
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