(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The Dubai Police recently busted a European human trafficking ring with the arrest of four women who allegedly operated in the UAE and rescued a 22-year-old victim. A hunt is on for the remaining members of the gang who are abroad.
Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said the arrested suspects were coordinating with their fellow operatives who scouted for young girls in Europe to lure them to Dubai with the offer of dancers' jobs in nightclubs.
The targeted women victims were promised attractive salaries and chauffer-driven vehicles in addition to accommodation in five-stars hotels. The rescued East European victim told the police that she was offered the job of a dancer in a five-star hotel. She arrived at Dubai International Airport, accompanied by a 32-year-old European woman suspect, whose mission was to hunt for attractive women in her country to join the flesh trade.
The suspect sold the victim to another woman whose job was to send the girls, who were thus brought to the UAE, to brothels. She collected Dh40,000 from the buyer and left the country the next day.
Colonel Abdul Raheem bin Shafee, Director of the Anti-Organised Crime Department, said the police received information that an East European woman was being locked up in a flat located behind a bank and that she was being forced into prostitution.
The police learnt that some European suspects had been on the lookout for young beautiful women in their countries and sold them in the UAE. After bringing the girls into the UAE, they would return home the next day.
Col Bin Shafee said that it was difficult for the police to arrest the gang members who shifted their operations from one building to another.
Major Wisam bin Darai, Head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Department, said the police teams worked for days to find the whereabouts of the victim to rescue her without endangering her life.
When the police raided the flat after taking permission from the Public Prosecution, they found the victim semi-naked. The gang had installed surveillance cameras to monitor the corridors leading to the flat.
The flat was locked and guarded by a woman who was arrested. The guard's other role was to clean the victim's room and warn the customers against getting close to the latter. She told the cops that another woman gang member paid her $500 every month and also gave her Dh1,000 to pay the room's rent.
On searching the flat, the police found a large number of condoms and birth control pills.
The victim told the police that a European woman who met her in her home country offered her "a good job" at a five-star hotel. She agreed because she needed money badly.
When she arrived in Dubai, she met another woman who took away her passport and forced her into prostitution. When she resisted, that woman took her to another woman who locked her up in the flat till she was rescued by the police.
Maj Bin Darai said the police found out all locations where the victim had been kept and arrested the woman who forced her into prostitution and the woman who locked her up. The police also tracked down and arrested the prime suspect who bought the victim for Dh40,000 from the suspect who brought her to the country and left the next day. The police arrested the prime suspect from a parking lot and seized Dh300,000 found in her possession, in addition to other currencies which were hidden in her flat. She confessed that the entire money was earned from prostitution.
Brig Al Mansouri said the police were making all efforts to fight human trafficking and are cooperating with international organisations and regional human rights centres to arrest those who are involved in the heinous crime.
After rescuing the woman victim, the police alerted the human rights department in her country. The victim was referred to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
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