Human traffickers who preyed on teenager jailed for 5 years

Couple lured girl from Pakistan to work as a maid, but forced her into prostitution.

DUBAI // A man and woman were sentenced today to five years for human trafficking by the Dubai Criminal Court.

Both Pakistani, MTS, 40 and MTM, 24, lured a 16-year-old girl into the country with the promise of a maid's job, then locked her in their apartment in Hor Al Anz and forced her to prostitute herself.

MTS was also charged with raping MTM, but proved to the court that she was his wife.

MTM was convicted of prostitution.

The victim, SA, from Pakistan, said MTS brought her to Dubai four times on visit visas to find a maid's job but had no success. The fifth time, her father did not want her to go but she insisted they needed the money.

She said that when she arrived, she was taken to the defendants' apartment where she briefly saw six other girls. She was later told they left the country. When she was alone, the defendants beat her and forced her to work in the sex industry, she said.

"I worked for about 10 months, then I told a customer that I lost my passport so he gave me the police emergency number to report the missing passport," she said, adding that she called and told police she was being forced to have sex for money.

Shortly after receiving her call, police raided the apartment and arrested the defendants.

MTM said in prosecution records that SA worked willingly as a prostitute, and her father was aware of it.

The pair will be deported following the completion of their jail terms.