DUBAI // A man and wife lured two teenage girls to the UAE and forced them to work as prostitutes, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
Bangladeshis M M, 40, and his wife M A, 30, who denied trafficking compatriots S A S, 16, and S J S, 15, between April 24 and May 6 this year, told the court they could not afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves.
M M also denied facilitating prostitution for a number of unidentified women.
Records show that S A S and S J S were promised work at beauty salons in Dubai but when they arrived in the country they were locked up, beaten and threatened into working as prostitutes.
“They took my passport then M A told me that I won’t be working in a salon but in prostitution, so I refused but then her husband assaulted me and threatened to lock me up for 10 years if I didn’t,” said S A S.
She added that she was first taken to a flat run by a Chinese woman and told she had to sleep with men. She was then moved to another flat and again was forced to sell her body for two days before she was moved to a third apartment.
“I worked in the last flat for one day then I started looking for the key to the locked door. When I found it I ran out and screamed for a taxi. The driver was Bangladeshi so I told him what was happening and asked him to take me to police, which he did,” said S A S.
S J S told the court she was beaten and locked up in a room alone for several days because she refused to work as a prostitute.
“I was also moved from one flat to another, and in the third one I managed to use a phone and call police,” she said.
Police arrested M M and M A and referred the victims to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
Records show that both girls had to borrow money to pay for visas and plane tickets to the UAE.
“S A S reported the incident at Al Qusais police station on May 24 this year, and on June 9 the same year S J S reported the couple to Al Muraqqabat police station after which we arrested the husband and his wife who denied human trafficking,” testified 23-year-old policeman H A.
The case was adjourned for the court to assign a lawyer for the couple. The next hearing will be on September 2.
salamir@thenational.ae
