Pak gang faces trial in Dubai for abetting prostitution

DUBAI: Eight Pakistanis including a woman have gone on trial at the Dubai court for allegedly luring three compatriot teenage girls to come to the UAE from Pakistan and then making them work in a prostitution racket.

Dubai court was told that the three 17-year-old girls were brought to Dubai from Pakistan to work as sex workers, according to the UAE newspaper The National. Sources in local authorities informed The News that many girls (most of them are under 18 year old) were brought to the Emirates recently from Pakistan and the crackdown is underway against such unlawful activities in the Emirates. Sources also revealed that the complaints have already been lodged with the Pakistani authorities regarding the issue.

The Pakistani girls, all aged 17, each came to the country through Dubai International Airport last year after being offered jobs by the Pakistani defendants, aged between 24 and 41. Their passports were altered to increase their ages.

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. The documents of the case indicate that the defendants had passports issued for the victims with fake ages. They faced charges of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and running a prostitution den.

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 and the police are looking for him. The next hearing is scheduled for May 20.