Asian man sells Dubai maid into prostitution for Dh4,000

Three Bangladeshi men faced a human trafficking charge for allegedly luring two housemaids into absconding from their employers and then forcing them into the flesh trade.

The Court of First Instance was told that a 24-year-old driver and a shepherd, aged 40, lured the maids into running away from their sponsors with promises of better paid jobs.
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They helped them abscond by picking them up from the houses where they legally worked as maids.

However, once without jobs, the two maids were exploited and forced to work as prostitutes. The duo sold one of them to a 35-year-old plumber to sexually exploit her. The plumber allegedly raped her.

The case dates back to June last year.
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One of the maids, a 33-year-old Indonesian, said she had been working for her sponsor in Ras Al Khaimah when one of the defendants (the driver) encouraged and helped her abscond. He picked her up and took her to a hotel where they had consensual sex before coming to Dubai.

In the house in Dubai, she saw an Indonesian woman, and two Bangladeshis. "A man (the plumber) told me I was sold for Dh 4,000. He told me that I would work in prostitution or I have to return that amount."

As she did not agree the other man locked the door. "I started working and a man would drop me at another house and they deprived me of my freedom for three months".
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The victim added that the plumber had sex with her against her will.

"In September 2015, I felt severe pain in the waist so they took me hospital and gave me Dh 500 for treatment expenses," she said.

She slipped away and lodged a complaint with RAK police.

Another Indonesian maid, aged 42, said she had been working for four months with her sponsor in RAK before she absconded with other maids after the main defendant (the driver) and his friend promised them with better jobs.

"They picked us up and took us to a motel. He booked five separate rooms".
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The next day the driver took them to Dubai where she was told she would work in prostitution.

However, two days later she seized the opportunity when the men were asleep to sneak out and report them to the police.

A police sergeant confirmed that in September last year one of the victims was referred to RAK police as a human trafficking victim.

The plumber admitted to a police lieutenant during questioning that he paid Dh 1,500 to buy one of the maids from the driver to make her work for him in prostitution. He also confessed he had sex with her twice.

"We arrested him on March 21. He confessed he locked the maid up in a house in Al Hamriyah," the officer said.

The motel receptionist, a 35-year-old Indian, said during the investigation that the driver had been their regular client since 2012. "He would always come and each time with different women".

mary@khaleejtimes.com