DUBAI: Police in Dubai have busted a prostitution ring and arrested 11 people over running a brothel, where two young girls were forced into the illegal trade, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
Nine women were charged with working in the brothel, while an Arab man and his partner were charged with human trafficking, managing the place and forcing women into prostitution through violence and intimidation, the National said.
The two young girls were taken into police custody but not charged because they were underage and are being treated as victims of trafficking, according to the daily. It said one of the girls was aged 16 but did not give the age of the second.
The 16-year-old was passed as the daughter of one of the men and reported as an absconder to the Department of Naturalization and Residency, where an official was also being investigated on claims of taking bribes to forge the women’s visas, the paper added.
“The public prosecution will ... apply the full force of the law strongly on (the perpetrators) and focus on the victims of these crimes,” Amar Al-Danhani, the public prosecutor, said.
The authorities in Dubai have repeatedly said they are stepping up efforts to crack down on prostitution and human trafficking.
