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Duo jailed for 'selling' woman for Dh5,500 via WhatsApp in Dubai

Dubai - The woman used to work as a maid in Abu Dhabi.

Two Bangladeshi men, aged 25 and 28, accused of trying to sell an absconding Indonesian maid for Dh5,500 via WhatsApp, were sentenced to five years each in prison by a Dubai court on Thursday.
The Court of First Instance found them guilty of a human trafficking charge.
Two other Bangladeshis, aged 36 and 31, were also jailed for five years each for aiding and abetting them in selling the victim and driving her to the 'buyer'.
They court convicted the four men of running a flat as a prostitution den, facilitating prostitution by bringing men to have sex with the victim in their place and sexual exploitation.
Three of them had illicit consensual sex with the victim.
All the convicts and the victim were ordered to be deported. The defendants were also ordered to pay a fine of Dh100,000 jointly. The court also ordered the flat be shut down.
The arrest was made on February 5, this year, in Al Muraqqabat.
The 41-year-old victim, who was placed at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, said she was a divorced mother with three children. "I arrived in Dubai on January 4, 2017, and worked for an Emirati family in Abu Dhabi. I got in contact with a woman and told her that I was not happy at work because the sponsor's wife was very demanding. That woman introduced me to another woman (a wanted runaway) who promised me a part-time job on a Dh1,500 salary."
The maid ran away from her sponsor's house on January 20, 2018. "At 3pm, I took a bus to Dubai. I was picked up later by a man who took me to a house. The runaway woman told me I would work as a prostitute, that I had to accept as I had no other choice," the maid recounted.
She was taken later to a room-partitioned house where she had paid sex with men.
The runaway woman would always tell her by WhatsApp to not make trouble or she would be taken to other houses. "Around 10pm on February 5, I was told to pack my bag as I would be taken to another house. A few minutes after I rode in the first defendant's car, the police raided the place. I had no idea I was being sold," the victim told the prosecutor.
A police lieutenant said. "I was tipped-off by a secret source that a woman was put for sale for Dh5,500. We sent the informant to meet the defendants as a potential buyer in Hor Al Anz. A
After the main defendant collected the money, which belonged to the police from the informant, we raided the car and set the victim free after arresting the two suspects."
mary@khaleejtimes.com