An Arab man was sentenced by a Dubai court to three years in prison on August 15 for kidnapping Asian maids from an airport last year.
On July 6, 2017, the 29-year-old man, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, met up with two Indonesian domestic workers, aged 28 and 35, at Dubai International Airport. Having been told of their arrival by an accomplice abroad, the accused told the domestic workers that he worked for their employment agency, The Gulf Today reported.
He brought the victims to a house, where he took away their passports and mobile phones and locked them in a room. An Ethiopian woman came every day to give them meals, but on the fourth day, when the Ethiopian woman forgot to lock the door, and the victims escaped.
On August 27, 2017, the accused used the same method to kidnap several other Asian domestic workers from the airport. A 31-year-old Indonesian woman said she and her peers were locked in an apartment for 10 days before she was taken to an Emirati couple in Abu Dhabi.
The couple paid 14,000 Dhirams (US$3812) to the Arab man, who showed them fake recruitment documents.
The man was later arrested and accused of having kidnapped at least seven women. Although he admitted his wrongdoings under police questioning, when he appeared in court on June 24, he declined to plead guilty. He was found guilty and sent to jail for three years. Upon completion of his prison term, the man will be deported.