5 years in prison for a gang that traded in 4 minors

Dubai: The Dubai Criminal Court yesterday sentenced a gang of five Asians to five years in jail after being convicted of a human trafficking offense for exploiting four girls under the age of 18, out of a total of 19 women who worked in dance and prostitution in a nightclub. .

Prosecutors' investigations indicated that the defendants, aged between 20 and 39, brought the victims from their country with forged documents after persuading them to work as dancers, agreeing to their difficult circumstances and their desire to help their families.

A witness from Dubai Police said that information was received to the concerned department about the exploitation of girls under the age of 18 by a gang, and forced them to dance and prostitution.A team was formed and validated the information, and then raided the place, where they found 19 women, and the five defendants.

He added that the team rescued the four girls, aged between 16 and 18 years, and referred them to the Dubai Foundation for the care of women and children, pointing to the defendants circumvented the law, and manipulated the ages of the girls, to allow them to travel to the UAE.

One of the victims, a 17-year-old girl, said she belonged to a family of 10 in her country and was helping them to work there, but under difficult circumstances, she agreed to an offer from one of the accused to work as a dancer in Dubai, so as to contribute to the improvement of her family's conditions. .

She added that the defendant referred to all arrangements, extracted a passport of a different age, paid her the expenses of relocating to the UAE, and upon arrival the other defendants received her and transferred her to an apartment that included all the women arrested.

She pointed out that the gang took her four days after arriving at a nightclub to work as a dancer, then the defendants asked her to have sex with customers, pointing out that the main defendant is the manager of the nightclub, who was in charge of managing all acts contrary to morality.

Investigations showed that the four victims arrived in the state at different times last year, and the circumstances that led them to agree to work for the benefit of the gang, and the Criminal Court also ruled to remove the defendants after serving their prison term.