Dubai court reduces sentences of couple involved in trafficking teenage girl

Their prison time was reduced from 10 to seven years

The Dubai Court of Appeal has reduced a 10-year prison sentence against a couple for trafficking a teenage girl.

Dubai Appeal Court has reduced the prison sentences of a couple involved in trafficking a 16-year-old girl and forcing her into prostitution.

The woman, 36, offered the orphaned girl a maid’s job in the country and the man forged her passport to make her look older.

Both will now serve seven years in prison.

Three other men involved in the crime had their 10-year prison sentences upheld by the court.

A fifth man convicted of aiding and abetting the crime will now serve six months in prison instead of 10 years.

All of those involved were from Bangladesh and aged between 22 and 48. They will be deported after serving their prison terms.

Judges heard how they brought the teenage girl into the country illegally.

After arriving at Dubai International Airport, the girl, also from Bangladesh, was picked up by two of the men and taken to an apartment in the Al Karma area.

She was beaten, raped and locked up.

After being tipped off in October 2019, Dubai Police officers raided the flat.

“When we posed as customers at the place where she was kept on October 20, I was asked to pick from four women,” an officer who worked undercover told judges.

“I pointed at the teenage girl and when we walked into the room, I signalled police and they raided the place.”

All of the accused were arrested and financial records were confiscated from the apartment.

They denied the charges in January 2020, but they were convicted and all of them were sentenced to 10 years in prison.