A 14-year-old girl who was taken from her home country and forced to work as a prostitute has been rescued by Dubai Police after officers raided a suspected brothel.
The girl, called Layla, was brought to the UAE by her uncle, who convinced her family to let her work in a massage centre.
The girl was forced into prostitution and was beaten by human traffickers if she did not comply.
“We received reliable information about an apartment that was carrying out illegal practices. After raiding the apartment, we found a girl that had been forced into prostitution,” said Lt Col Abdul Rahman Al Shaer, director of the human trafficking monitoring department at Dubai Police.
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He said that the girl's uncle forged her passport and birth certificate to make her ten years older than her actual age.
Police declined to say what nationality the girl was.
“The girl’s uncle obtained a passport for her after forging her birth certificate and listed her age as 24 years instead of 14 years. She told police that she did not get money from the traffickers,” said Lt Col Shaer.
The girl was sent to Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
“A woman and a man, from an Asian country, were running the brothel. They were arrested along with other several women,” Lt Col Shaer.
The suspects were referred to Dubai Public Prosecution.
Dubai Police said three human trafficking cases involving seven people accused of human trafficking - three women and four men - have also been reported, but did not specify the time period.