Women ‘lured to UAE for prostitution’

Moroccans were beaten and forced to sell their bodies

DUBAI // Two Moroccan women lured three compatriots to the UAE with the promise of good jobs but then forced them to work as prostitutes, the Criminal Court was told yesterday.

Prosecutors said that the defendants, ages 39 and 22, trafficked the women, beat and threatened them and locked them up.

One of the alleged victims said she arrived in Dubai in September after paying the defendants Dh5,000 for a purported job at a sports club.

When she arrived, however, she was locked in a flat in Al Muraqqabat area with two of her countrymen.

“One of the defendants assaulted me with a shisha pipe and the other banned me from stepping out of the flat,” she said.

She was forced to have sex with a Saudi Arabian man and then was taken to a hotel to meet another client.

She escaped and went to a police station to inform officers.

Police then raided the flat, arrested the defendants and rescued the two other victims. The second alleged victim said she was offered a job at a beauty salon but when she arrived her compatriots beat, threatened and locked her up. She said she had paid more than Dh3,400 before arriving.

Her clients were mainly Saudis, Bahrainis and Indians. She was paid Dh1,500 by each customer. The third woman said she came to Dubai two months before the arrest and had also paid the defendants beforehand.

“The next morning following my arrival to join a beauty salon’s team, as I was told, the defendants had me wear make-up and took my picture. Then they took my passport and told me I will be a prostitute,” she said. “I refused, so they assaulted me.”

The 27-year-old said she was forced to have sex with more than 30 men before the police raided the flat and freed her. An Emirati policeman, who works for Dubai Police’s Human Rights Department, said a woman had approached them in October and reported that she was a victim of human trafficking. “We informed CID and after obtaining an arrest warrant, they raided the apartment,” said the officer.

Prosecutors said during interrogation that the Moroccan women confessed they had worked as prostitutes and forced the three women to do the same. The defendants denied the charges. The next hearing is on April 17.