Dubai's Sex Trade

The story of Dubai’s rise as a bubble economy and the attraction for all expatriates from asian countries has made it the most sought after city in Middle East. But how much of it as the UAE government says is really the place of crime free country. I am not talking about the labor laws, different rules for expats and all the employment exploitation that goes unnoticed. The “City of Gold” has much darker picture then one could ever imagine. Living in Dubai for almost 14 years and hanging around with top police officials, government officials, diplomats and the rich and the famous allowed me the opportunity to get to the depth of the real scene.

What goes around in day has very contrast image of what happens in the night. Since working on several undercover cases and following criminals around in the city, i was able to discover the most terrible tales of human trafficking and sex trade. Nevertheless, this network is run none other than the local arabs or perhaps some government & police officials. Since the rise of whites as expats in the city, the Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi demand for girls went low. Subsequently, the collapse of the Soviet Union gave chance for traffickers to import girls from the break away Soviet Republics and even from Russia. Although, all these girls there are termed as Russian’s and the word Russian has now become synonym with prostitution. Sometimes even all white girls are looked by the other expats as Russian’s and to some extreme even as prostitutes.

Dubai has the highest number of Bars, Clubs, Discos, Pubs and brothels as compared to any other Asian country after Thailand. One can get a so-called Russian girl for a quickie for Dhm.20/- ( Offcourse these girls will be from Kazak, Uzbek , Tajik or Ukraine and other soviet break aways. ). When i moved in Dubai in 1997, i was living in an accommodation in the development of Al Nakheel area in Deira. What amazed me was after midnight it was just impossible to sleep, my door bell was rung for almost 4-5 times throughout night. Russian girls would ring the door bell or knock the door, asking me if i wanted to f*$#@ its only Dhm.100, some girls upon hearing my response “No, sorry” they would ask “please slakti you can pay dhm.50…40…30…so forth and so on…its sad but i was thinking what makes these girls so desperate, are they craving for money so badly or perhaps they really have a bad situation at home or maybe they are forced to do so…i had to wait for another couple of years till i could make my stand in the Dubai society and really find out, whats behind this prostitution racket.

Few later, when i was undercover, working on a theft case and keeping a trace about a certain gang at a Disco. I was practically each night at this disco, that’s when i came in contact with some Russian girls at this joint. Since they saw me that i come here regularly they started to speak to me, off course they initially started to speak to me, assuming that i am a prospective customer. My reply was negative, i clearly told them “I come here to chill out & for the music not for sex”. Getting to know these girls closer broke the ice between us and they sometimes shared their grief with me.  I tell you these girls were no less than the super models and they would give even the Bollywood actresses a run. Angelica barely 19 years,  was sold by her father in Uzbekistan for $15000/- , now she needs to work for this boss of hers Tataina until she pays back $40,000/- through prostitution. Tatiana her boss who hails from Russia, co-ordinates this business with her husband who helps getting young girls from these former soviet republics. Tatiana is grim-faced lady who is partnered with local Arab Abdul Saleem, who works for the Dubai Police as CID. Abdul Saleem arranges visa for the girls of Tatiana, guarantees protection for the girls and arranges accommodation. The girls have to pay Dhms.150 per day, for bed space in that accommodation. Everything from food, accommodation, visa , travel etc., Tatiana & Abdual Saleem have their profits, because they over charge these girls. When the girls realise that what they have been charges is high, they can only talk among themselves. The girls can’t escape from their bosses business because the partner is a local police guy, that makes things more difficult. The girls have to do at least 5-7 customers in a day, or else they will have Dhms.1000 fine credited to their account. However, it’s not difficult to get customers in Dubai’s booming economy but they at least have 4-5 bad days in a month, where they attract fines. These girls might work for their boss for one year to two years depending on the account balance. Thereafter, the boss makes the girl manager or th girl is free to go and work on her own. These girls never started as prostitutes in their home country so after one or two years in this work, it’s practically impossible for girls to lead a normal life. But yes i have met very few girls who have been released of their loan and luckily one of the customers fell in love, listening to sad tale and marries the girl or maybe even some girls( very rarely ) would take up a decent day job. The story of Angelica is very similar to all the stories i have heard in all the clubs, discos, bars …off course I didn’t visit a brothel, apart from raiding it with the police.

Most amazingly this trade is flourishing in Dubai to its peak, just like its infrastructure. Expats are getting addicted to buying sex and wasting all their hard-earned money to fulfill their sexual desires. The expats are not only exhausting their own salaries, but also going for credit cards and personal loans. After that ….things just turn pretty bad. This is bound to happen as these expat men have never seen such beautiful, perfect body girls, they are far away from their family, away from their wives, the desire of lust takes its toll on the mental and financial. The biggest profiteer are the bosses and the local arab sponsors, they get all their extra bucks to accelerate their gas guzzlers SUVs and wear diamond studded Cartier on the wrist.

The sad or the most saddest part is that some girls take years and years to come out of their financial chains from their bosses. Some girls get murdered by the hooligans sex craving lusty customers. Some girls who decline to offer their body after coming to Dubai probably get chopped off by their Russian bosses, the body is later carefully cut into smaller pieces and flushed away through the toilets. Some girls come out of it after a year or two and start on their own and some girls get lucky to settle down with a loving guy. The story doesn’t end here, i have avoided to put much detail here or write some of the most horrific things that i have witnessed as an undercover agent. But the Dubai night life is not all about drinks, party or dance. It’s when men drive around the city to hook up or pick up pretty girls dressed to impress.

Although porn sites or any sexual content on the internet is banned, no sex shops in the city, no pin-up magazine covers….who wants all those. When you can just visit a pub or bar next door to pick up your choice ranging from Dhm.200 to Dhm.2000. Incase if you know some bosses you can get your home delivery. Dubai boosts about being a Islamic country , but by the very nature of facts things are otherwise. Its the city where people come for sex.

The sale of these innocent girls in their home country, transfer to Dubai for a better job, captivity in the hands of the bosses, abuse of flesh, loss of dignity, killing of emotions, no hope in future are only some of the key points happening in the lives of these girls. I did manage to rescue some girls with our team and send them back to their home country but the pressure from the highest officials always put our team in trouble. Our work did not stop till the last days in UAE, but i hope such atrocities around the world on woman comes to an end or the governments act upon it. This can only be a dream…

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