Police bust nightclub hawking underage girls

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Five Asian men operating a Dubai nightclub as a den for underage streetwalkers were hauled into the Dubai Criminal Court on Tuesday.

The five were a manager, 31, (who was the nightclub owner), a supervisor, 34, (worked as a broker between clients and girls), a songs coordinator, 20, (was a co-broker), a waiter, 30, (delivered girls) and an accountant, 39, (was the treasurer).

Prosecutors accused them of luring the underage Bangladeshi girls making use of their need for money. They brought them as dancers and exploited them in the flesh trade while pocketing proceeds, prosecutors explained.

They all denied the charges and their lawyer asked for time to listen to prosecution witnesses. Judge Muhammad Jamaal Kaamil set June 18 for the next hearing.

In prosecution records, the manager and his business partner opened up a nightclub at a hotel in Al Muraqqabat and started bringing girls from Bangladesh to work as dancers and streetwalkers after exaggerating their ages in their passports.

He was paying each girl a Dhs2,000 monthly salary. In case one had to meet with a client, the client would pay Dhs1,500 of which the manager would take Dhs1,000 and give her the Dhs500. A source alerted police about the illegal activities.

On Mar.25 an undercover cop entered the nightclub and asked for a young girl to be with. The workers’ supervisor in charge of brokering such deals showed him one aged 16. The cop paid Dhs1,500 to the accountant and went to a room.

The waiter delivered the girl to him. The cop signalled to the police team. The manager upon arrest revealed that Dhs57,255, $105, SAR250 and OMR20 seized in their apartment in Hor Al Anz was worth nightclub and prostitution proceeds.

The supervisor confessed to brokering deals. The songs coordinator confessed to participating in this.  The waiter confessed to delivering girls to rooms. The accountant confessed to collecting payments and handing them to the manager.

The 16-year-old said she came to work so she could cater for ten members of her hard-up family. She worked as a dancer then started working as a streetwalker. The second girl said she was looking after three members of her poor family.

The third girl said she accepted to work to look after her family of seven insolvent persons. The fourth girl said she was looking after five. She was transported to several clubs to dance before being turned into a streetwalker. A source alerted the Dubai Police Anti-Human Trafficking Department.