Dubai police have rescued a 14-year-old girl from a suspected brothel in what they referred to as the "most cruel" human trafficking case in the emirate this year, Gulf News reported on Tuesday.
Police say the Asian teen was brought to the country with a forged passport and forced to work as a prostitute for two months, during which she faced physical and sexual assault.
According to Abdul Rahman Al Shaer, the director of the Human Trafficking Monitoring Department at Dubai Police, a Bangladeshi man and woman who were responsible for running the brothel, as well as other adult women found on the site, have all been arrested.
The victim says her uncle brought her to the UAE after telling her father she would be working at a beauty salon.
To do this, he changed her birth certificate to make her 24 years old, instead of 14, and forged a new passport for her.
She was then smuggled to Dubai by two men, who locked her at a massage center and raped her.
"When she refused to work in prostitution, she was beaten and forced to work as a prostitute," Gulf News quotes Al Shaer as saying.
According to Khaleej Times, the accused claim the uncle knew that his niece would be forced into prostitution.
"The most cruel" human trafficking case in Dubai this year
Despite her ongoing resistance and cries for mercy, the teen was forced to see numerous "clients" a day.
She says she did not receive any money for her forced labor, but she is not sure whether the suspects had sent money to her parents or uncle.
"We've had only three human trafficking cases this year, but this one is the cruelest case because the victim is a minor," Al Shaer said.
After raiding the brothel, police arrested the Bangladeshi duo as well as a group of adult women pending further investigation.
Al Shaer said the victim is undergoing rehabilitation at the Dubai Foundation for Woman and Children, assuring that the country's consulate is helping her take legal action against those responsible.