The accused locked up women in an apartment in Dubai’s Al Hamriya area and forced them into prostitution.
Police have busted a prostitution ring in Dubai with the help of chat messages on Facebook.
The victim, an Indonesian maid, 30, after being locked up in an apartment, contacted her sister on social media and narrated her ordeal, leading to the police raid.
The victim fell prey to a man who promised her a job with an Emirati family but sold her to a pimp, heard the Dubai Criminal Court.
The maid came to the UAE in February last year. She worked for two families in Abu Dhabi and Ajman but absconded for what she thought was a better paying job.
On October 25 last year, the accused men allegedly tricked her into coming to an apartment where they forced her to sleep with clients.
When she refused, they sold her to a man for Dh35,000.
“They took me in a taxi on the pretext of getting a job but locked me up in an apartment. I had no contact with the outside world,” she said.
There were several women in the apartment who worked as prostitutes.
“The monitored us with cameras. We couldn’t step out of the apartment,” she added.
The woman had a mobile phone without a SIM card.
However, she managed to connect to an open Wi-Fi connection and contacted her sister on Facebook, who tipped the police.
“We received a report from a woman about her sister being locked up in an apartment in Al Hamriya area,” said a first lieutenant.
The police arrested four Bangladeshis, one Pakistani and two Indonesian women. They’ve been charged with human trafficking, running a brothel, confinement and exploiting women into prostitution.
The hearing was adjourned until February 3.
