Defendants arranged passport for the teen, which made her appear older than she was

Three Bangladeshi men lured a teenage girl to Dubai where they locked her up and forced her into prostitution, a court heard on Thursday.

The 17-year-old Bangladeshi girl came to Dubai in January on the promise of work in a massage parlour from a friend in her home country, but she was instead locked in a flat in Bur Dubai and forced to have sex with men for money.

The defendants arranged a passport for the victim, which made her appear older than she was, and welcomed her at Dubai Airport.

“I left school in grade eight and didn’t work,” she said. “My family agreed to send me to work. They took me to a two bedroom flat and I saw three other women inside. They told me that I will work as a prostitute,” she added.

She started crying and told a fourth defendant, who is still at large, that she couldn’t work as a prostitute, but he said that until she could repay the expenses made to bring her to the UAE she couldn’t go back to Bangladesh.

“He told me that I needed to pay back Dh13,000. I kept crying and was sick for a week. Later they forced me to have sex with a customer for Dh80. They locked the doors at night so I couldn’t escape,” she added.

In April of this year a Pakistani customer felt sympathy for her and gave her the phone number of Dubai Police with whom she could report her situation. A police officer said the girl called claiming she was a teenager and had been forced into prostitution.

“We raided the flat and rescued the girl,” said the officer. “We arrested three Bangladeshi men and other girls who were working as prostitutes. The victim told me that she was threatened and forced into prostitution.”

Three defendants were charged with human trafficking and running a brothel. Two of them admitted the charges while the third failed to attend court.

The trial has been adjourned until July 8.

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