Woman jailed for forcing others into prostitution and running a brothel

DUBAI // A Nigerian secretary will spend three years in jail for forcing a number of her countrywomen into prostitution.

Police were told about N A, 31, on August 16 last year by the Nigerian consulate, after which she was arrested at her apartment in The Gardens, which she had turned into a brothel.

Police also arrested 32-year-old Nigerian, J A, at the apartment after she was found to be willingly working in prostitution. J A was also sentenced to three years in jail.

Emirati policeman S A, 30, said the report made by N A’s consulate said she had been luring Nigerian women to Dubai after paying their travel expenses, then would take pictures of them naked, or shoot videos of the women in compromising positions.

“She would use the images and recordings to blackmail the women and force them into having sex for money, or if the women failed to repay her the travel costs,” said the officer.

He said that during questioning the secretary confessed she once posted a clip of a woman naked online because she refused to sell her body or pay her the travel expenses after she had arrived in 2014.

“We found several beds at her two-bedroom apartment, as well as condoms and other sexual tools,” said the policeman, adding that they also found a forged passport with J A, which contained forged official stamps.

“She confessed she purchased the passport from a man because she was living here illegally after coming as a tourist,” said S A.

Both defendants were charged with working in prostitution. N A alone was charged with posting pornographic videos and pictures of women online and with running a brothel.

J A was charged with forging a Nigerian passport to legitimise her stay in the country.

The women did not attend their first hearing in court last January.

Both women will be deported after serving their sentences.