An elderly businessman has been jailed for three years for running a brothel at a flat where girls as young as 15 years were forced to work as prostitutes.

Two Bangladeshi girls, aged 15 and 16, were flown in to Dubai on the pretext of being hired as beauty salon workers in April 2015.

One day the 16-year-old girl managed to escape from the captivity of the Bangladeshi men, who had brought her to Dubai and coerced her into the sex trade. She went to a police station and told policemen about her ordeal.

Police interrogations led to the arrest of two Bangladeshi men, who were accused of exploiting the teenaged girls.

The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed one of the Bangladeshi men to seven years in jail and acquitted the other.

The 62-year-old Chinese businessman was later found to have rented the flat where the girls were being kept.

The 62-year-old will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The court convicted the 62-year-old of running the brothel and allowing a number of girls to work in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty.

The 16-year-old girl said the Bangladeshi defendants brought her to Dubai after having promised her to work in a salon.

“When I arrived in Dubai, they took away my passport and accompanied me to a flat in Mankhool … they made me stay with a Chinese woman and some other women. Later, I was told by the other women that the Chinese woman was their pimp and they worked for her in prostitution and sex massage. I refused to do that but the Bangladeshi defendants beat me and coerced me to work in sex trade. They threatened to jail me if I refused to work in prostitution and sex massage. I was forced into doing something against my will. Later they moved me to another flat that was being run as a brothel … One day, I ran away. I took a taxi and went to a police station and told them about my ordeal,” she told prosecutors.

A team from Dubai Police’s human trafficking department raided the flat and rescued the 15-year-old girl and other women, who were being forced into prostitution.

The 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl gave a statement similar to that of the 16-year-old.

An anti-human trafficking police lieutenant said that following the arrest of the Bangladeshi defendants, they discovered that the 62-year-old Chinese businessman had rented the flat.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.

Source: gulfnews.com