2 men on trial for selling woman via WhatsApp

DUBAI — Two Bangladeshi men, aged 25 and 28, have been charged at a Dubai Court with human trafficking after they allegedly tried to sell an absconding Indonesian maid for Dh5,500 via WhatsApp.

Two other Bangladeshis, aged 36 and 31, are accused of aiding and abetting them in helping sell the victim and driving her to the ‘buyer’.

They are also facing charges at the Court of First Instance of running a flat as a prostitution den, facilitating prostitution by bringing men to have sex with the victim in their place and sexual exploitation.

Three of them allegedly had illicit consensual sex with the victim. The latter had been subject to a deportation order.

The arrest was made on February 5 in Al Muraqqabat.

The investigating chief prosecutor referred the defendants to court with a plea they received the stiffest legal penalty possible.

The 41-year-old victim, an Indonesian maid, who has been placed at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, said she was a divorced mother with three children. “I arrived in Dubai on January 4, 2017, and worked for an Emirati family in Abu Dhabi. I got in contact with a countrywoman and told her I was not happy at work because the sponsor’s wife was very demanding. That woman introduced me to another compatriot (a wanted runaway) who promised me a part-time job on a Dh1,500 salary.”

The maid ran away from her sponsor’s house on January 20, 2018. “At 3pm, I took a bus to Dubai. I was picked up later by a man who took me to a house. The runaway woman told me I would work as a prostitute and that I had to accept as I had no other choice,” the maid recounted.

She was taken later to a room-partitioned house where she had paid sex with men.

The runaway woman would always tell her by WhatsApp to not make trouble or she would be taken to other houses. “Around 10pm on February 5, I was told to pack my bag as I would be taken to another house. A few minutes after I rode in the first defendant’s car, the police raided the place. I had no idea I was being sold,” the victim told the prosecutor.

“I was tipped-off by a secret source that a woman was put for sale for Dh5,500. We verified the information to be true. After obtaining a public prosecution warrant, we sent the informant to meet the defendants as a potential buyer in Hor Al Anz. After the main defendant collected the money, which belonged to the police, from the informant, we raided the car and freed the victim after arresting the two suspects,” a police lieutenant said.

The trial will continue on May 24.