Maasive prostitution racket busted in Dubai,170 sex workers held

Dubai, Dec 5 (UNI) The Dubai police have busted the biggest ever prostitution racket in the Gulf Arab Emirate by arresting 170 suspected prostitutes from East Asia.

The police arrested 247 suspects comprising 170 sex workers, 12 pimps and 65 suspects during a raid on saturday, Gulf News quoted police chief Dahi Khalfan as saying today.

''Dubai Police have many crackdowns on prostitution which are not announced in the media. However, it is important in the light of the activities being carried out by these networks to show there are crackdowns and there are efforts by police,'' he said.

Mr Bin Tamim also added that the move came after the United Arab Emirates passed a law to combat human trafficking.

''We started following up these networks and cases have been referred to the public prosecution, but this is the biggest case,'' he said, urging women ''duped into working for such networks'' to contact the police.

The UAE enacted a law in November making human trafficking punishable by life imprisonment, and has set up a state body to combat it.

Foreign workers and expatriates make up over 80 per cent of the four million population of the UAE.

UNI