DUBAI - A group of armed men charged with prostitution and human trafficking attacked police who raided their brothel, leaving one cop lying in a pool of blood, a Dubai court heard on Tuesday, UAE daily the National reported.Police raided the brothel after a call from a Nepali woman who was forced to have sex with up to 25 men a day, the Dubai Criminal Courts of First Instance heard.
The newspaper said the defendants include three Emiratis, two Indians, two Bangladeshis and a 45-year-old stateless person. Another suspect is at large.
The case is a rare glimpse into the darker side of Dubai, a city with a low crime rate where such clashes between gangs and police are rare.
The Nepalese woman, 27, told prosecutors: “I arrived from Nepal to work as a maid and was met by (the suspect still at large). I was beaten up and forced to sleep with 25 men a day every day. So I called a friend from one of my customers’ mobiles and asked for help.”
After her friend contacted police, officers raided a building in Dubai's Hamriya district, where police said they found the alleged operation spread across two houses, the paper reported.
The Nepalese woman said that while she was being taken to safety, a gang armed with knives and swords arrived and attacked the officers, according to the paper.
The trial has been adjourned until Dec. 20.
Human trafficking cases in the UAE nearly doubled to 18 in 2008, up from 10 in the previous year, a report showed in June.
Another report earlier this year said most victims in the UAE were women from Uzbekistan, Moldova and South Asia who were forced into prostitution and more than half of the convicted offenders were south Asian men.