DUBAI // Two men denied luring a maid with a promise of a better-paying job, only to force her into prostitution.
At the Dubai Criminal Court, Bangladeshis M A, 23, and M M, 26, both denied charges of human trafficking, while M M denied running a brothel.
Prosecutors said that last year the Bangladeshi victim had arrived through a labour office in Ajman and began working for an Emirati family in Dubai.
A month after she arrived, M S, 26, said “the sponsor’s wife created a problem so they took me back to the labour office”. She told prosecutors that while attending the labour office, she met a woman who convinced her to run away.
“I said OK and she took me in a cab to the residence of a man identified as ‘E’. She said he will find me the job she promised, but two days later I was taken and given to a man who I saw as he paid E money,” said the maid, who was taken to a flat in Dubai then to a massage parlour where she was told she would work as a masseuse in return for Dh1,000.
“I said OK but then noticed all customers were men. One day a customer wanted to have sex and when I refused I was beaten up and had to give in. I worked in prostitution for five days,” she said.
The woman was then sold to M M, who locked her up in a brothel and forced her to work as a prostitute. She tried to escape but was caught and beaten.
“M M then called M A, who took me in a car but when he was arranging with some men and taking money from them, police raided and arrested all of us,” she said.
M M was arrested the next day, records showed.
Maj M M A, a policeman, said that his officers had received information about the two men and that they were trying to sell a woman for Dh5,000.
The next hearing will be on Sunday.
salamir@thenational.ae
