Three, including a woman, were charged with human trafficking in the Court of First Instance for allegedly forcing two minor girls into prostitution.
The two men - an Indian businessman and a Bangladeshi unemployed - and a Bangladeshi runaway woman allegedly lured two underage girls to travel from Bangladesh to here and then forced them into prostitution. Both the victims were under 18 -year-old and they lied about their ages to be older in their passports.
The three accused were also accused of running a prostitution den in Naif.
The businessman, 46, is accused of sexually exploiting women in prostitution. He allegedly had consensual sex with one of the teen victims and he had liquor bottles in his possession at the time of his arrest. He hired the other man illegally.
The latter, aged 26, is charged with overstaying in the country and breaching the Foreigners Residency and Entry Law.
One of the victims said the Bangladeshi man, who helped her have a passport back home, wrote her age as 25 instead of 18 in her passport.
She was picked up from Sharjah International Airport on January 29. "I was earlier told that a man would take me to where I would work as a housemaid. A man was waiting for me at the airport and he took my passport and visa and gave me a phone to call my parents," she said.
She was taken to a flat in Deira. "A woman told me that the flat was being run as a den for prostitution. I told her I came to work as a maid but she said I had no choice," the victim said.
She did not accept to work for them for 15 days. "Then one of them threatened he would snap my nude pictures and post them on Facebook," she testified.
She was taken to another flat where she was locked up and forced to work for them for a week.
She was later taken to another flat where she stayed for about five weeks and worked as a prostitute. No client responded to her help requests.
Tip off helps police
A police captain said they received information about an Asian man running a brothel in Freej Al Murar, Naif.
"We learned that he was forcing a 16-year-old into prostitution. We sent an informant there to check it out," the officer said.
On April 13, the police obtained a public prosecution warrant for search and arrest.
They arrested the first accused in Deira around 4pm and he confessed to the officers he had a flat where he facilitated prostitution.
He led the police officers to the flat. "We found a surveillance camera fixed on the door. We found women inside (who had been working willingly as prostitutes and were deported later). We also found the victims."
There were four beds in the one-bedroom flat, which were separated by curtains. Also, contraceptive pills were seized from the place.
The hearing has been adjourned to October 20.
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