DUBAI // A Nigerian secretary was arrested for forcing countrywomen into prostitution after her consulate tipped police off about her, Dubai Criminal Court was told on Tuesday.
Police were told about N A, 31, on August 16 last year, after which she was apprehended at her apartment in The Gardens, which she allegedly turned into a brothel.
Police also arrested 32-year-old Nigerian J A at the apartment after she was found to be willingly working in prostitution, prosecutors say.
Emirati policeman S A, 30, testified that the report made by N A’s consulate said she had been luring countrywomen to Dubai after paying their travel expenses, then would take pictures of them naked, or shoot videos of the women in compromising positions.
“She would use the images and recordings to blackmail the women and force them into having sex for money, or if the women failed to repay her the travel costs,” said the officer.
He said during questioning the secretary confessed she once posted a clip of a woman naked online because she refused to sell her body or pay her the travel expenses after she had arrived in 2014.
“We found several beds at her two-bedroom apartment, as well as condoms and other sexual tools,” said the policeman, saying they also found a forged passport with J A, which contained forged official stamps.
“She confessed she purchased the passport from a man because she was living here illegally after coming as a tourist,” said S A.
Both defendants were charged with working in prostitution. N A alone was charged with posting pornographic clips and pictures of women online and with running a brothel in her apartment.
J A was charged with forging a Nigerian passport to legitimise her stay in the country.
The women were not present in court on Tuesday to enter a plea.
The next hearing will be on January 18, to summon them from their prison cells.
salamir@thenational.ae
