Sharjah, June 30: The Sharjah Police have arrested six people, including a debt-ridden man, who allegedly forced his 13-year-old daughter into prostitution, for trafficking of a number of teenage girls to the UAE.
A top official at the Organised Crime Department of the CID of Sharjah Police said the six-member Pakistani gang included three brothers. The gang allegedly brought in a number of women from their country and locked them up in a residential apartment to force them into prostitution.
The official said that the father had agreed with the other members of the gang to include his daughter in the brothel. He collected part of the money that she earned, allegedly to clear his debts.
Another person, a national of a Gulf country, was also arrested while having sex with a 13-year-old girl, the official said. The girl was delivered to the man by a Pakistani driver who used to deliver the girls to furnished apartments and hotels where their clients stayed.
According to the official, investigations revealed that the three brothers had fake identities. They tricked some families in their home country by claiming that they would help find jobs for their daughters and wives in the UAE.
The victims included two sisters, aged 13, a 21-year-old recently married woman and another woman of 23. After their arrival in the country, the women were locked up in a flat and forced to work as prostitutes. Whenever they protested, they were beaten up, left starving and tortured. They were not allowed to call anyone or use the phone.
All the suspects were referred to the Sharjah Public Prosecution after they confessed to their crimes. The official said it was the first time that such minors were used in human trafficking through an organised criminal activity to lure them.
-Agencies