DUBAI – Eight Pakistanis including a woman have gone on trial in Dubai Court for allegedly luring three Pakistani teenage girls and bringing them from Pakistan to the UAE to work as prostitutes.
The passports of Pakistani girls, all aged 17, were forged with fake ages; each came to the country through Dubai International Airport last year after being offered jobs by the Pakistani defendants, aged between 24 and 41.
Dubai Police raided the brothel in Al Baraha on December 12 last year after receiving a tip-off that the defendants were exploiting underage girls.
One of the girls told prosecutors that she was contacted by the woman defendant and her brother – one of the seven men – who offered her a job as a sex worker in Dubai.
On her third visit in December last year, police raided the brothel where she worked and arrested them all, reported Khaleej Times.
The second girl worked as a prostitute for six months while the third worked for three months before they were arrested.
During questioning, the woman defendant denied forging the passports and said her only role was to book airline tickets.
Six defendants appeared in court and admitted to charges of human trafficking and facilitating prostitution. The woman defendant denied human trafficking but admitted to facilitating prostitution. The eldest of the defendants remains at large.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 20.
As per Gulf state federal and sharia laws prostitution is illegal in UAE and Punishments can be severe including imprisonment and flogging.
