Three years for human traffickers

ABU DHABI // Two men found guilty of human trafficking have been sentenced to three years in prison, WAM, the state news agency, reported yesterday. The two men, MAM and AM, were accused of selling a housemaid, who had earlier fled her sponsor, into prostitution. In a sting operation, an Abu Dhabi police officer went undercover to buy the woman himself and caught the accused in the process of selling the maid.

MAM and AM will be deported after they have served their sentences. Last month, the UAE released a report outlining its plans to stamp out human trafficking. The National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking said the country needed to implement tough penalties, increase support to victims and co-operate with an international network against the crime. Despite these efforts, the UAE was recently restored to a US watch list of countries with poor human trafficking records, having been removed last year.

The US state department this month placed the country on the Tier 2 watch list, along with 76 other countries including Bahrain, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and India.
jgerson@thenational.ae