Teenage girls forced to work as prostitutes, Dubai court told

The victims, both Bangladeshis, aged 16 and 18, are currently being cared for by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.

DUBAI // Two teenage girls from Bangladesh brought to Dubai after being promised jobs were forced to work as prostitutes.

Dubai Criminal Court was told the girls, aged 16 and 18, were kept in a studio apartment in Deira that was being used as a brothel.

They were rescued after police were tipped off about two under-age girls working as prostitutes.

Two men – an Indian aged 46, and a Bangladeshi, 26, – appeared in court charged with running a brothel and human-trafficking.

One of the girls said she took a job in Dubai to help support her family.

“My father is sick and mother works in a field but earns very little. I had to do something to help,” she said. “When I arrived here in January this year I was taken to a flat where I spent three days crying after they told me I had to work as a prostitute.”

She was later persuaded to sleep with men after being offered money but was not allowed to leave the flat.

The second victim also arrived in Dubai in January after being promised a maid’s job. She was taken to the same apartment.

“I refused prostitution for 15 days but when I was threatened to be stripped naked, photographed and defamed, I gave in. I used to tell customers about my ordeal and ask for help, but none of them helped me.”

Police raided the apartment on April 13.

“Two arrests were made, the man who ran the brothel and another who was keeping guard,” said an Emirati police captain, adding contraceptives, lubricants, passports, profit records and bottles of alcohol were found in the apartment that had been divided up using curtains.

The Indian defendant was also charged with abusing a number of women, persuading them to work in the sex industry, raping one of the teenagers, possessing alcohol and hiring an illegal worker.

The Bangladeshi was also charged with overstaying his visa and absconding.

They denied all of the charges in court. The next hearing will be on October 17.

The girls are being cared for by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.