Maria Sazonova, 21, went missing with a student friend after telling her mother she had got a bar job to earn money for a new iPhone.

The Russian foreign ministry organised a search for the pair after they failed to contact their families for a week amid concern over young women being exploited by sex traffickers in the region.

Russian embassy officials confirmed that Maria and friend Viktoria Matveyeva, 20, were found in Jordan, and after being detained, were deported late on Monday from the kingdom.

The women had vanished following a sighting at Bahrain airport.

Friends have now confirmed the pair – known as Masha and Vika – are “alive and well” after being detained working as escorts in Jordan.

It is unclear if a man reportedly bringing wealthy clients for the women was also detained.

Dzhennet Mimun, director of Moscow-based Creepy Sweets model agency, for which Maria has worked, said: “She was arrested for providing escort services.”

She believed the two women were fooled into becoming “sex slaves”, possibly by a wealthy Bahrainian man Maria earlier described as her “fiance”.

He gave her expensive presents, said the model agency director.

“Maria had two jobs, she was a model with us and she also had a job in Burlesque striptease club.

“She worked both in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.

“But she suddenly got some rich ‘fiance’ and became very secretive.”

Maria also said ahead of her trip that she was planning to earn money in the Middle East.

The women first travelled to Bahrain before flying to Jordan, Moscow press reported.

“From her close friends, I know that she went to Bahrain to meet her fiance who sent her expensive presents,” said Mimun.

“He bought her an iPhone 7 recently, and she got some cash to spend.

“Maria kept saying that it was typical of Arab men.”

A Bahrainian man identified by a Moscow newspaper as being in touch with Maria – named as Hamza Z – denied knowing the two women.

He told Komsomolskaya Pravda: “There are many Russian girls among my friends.

“Many beautiful Russian girls come to Bahrain. They have different jobs here.

“But I have not heard names Vika and Masha, I know nothing about them. I don’t remember such girls.”

The Russian embassy in Amman confirmed that the women were deported from Jordan late on Monday.

They were earlier detained for “illegal labour activities”, said press secretary Taras Dobrovolsky.

Russian ambassador to Bahrain, Vagif Garaev, said of Maria: “We are investigating the circumstances around the missing Russian girl.”

The pair’s disappearance follows concern in Russia and Ukraine over women being trapped into underground sex industry jobs in Middle East countries.

“They are often lured there under false pretences, with promises of jobs before being forced to work as prostitutes,” according to a recent report.

Maria’s mother Irina had expressed deep concern for her daughter.

“It never happened before that Maria went missing for such a long time,” she said.

Source: TheSun