Members of an alleged human trafficking ring used a popular dating app to sell women and find men seeking sex.
The information was provided during the trial of four Indians who appeared at the High Criminal Court yesterday where they previously denied trafficking, assault and holding victims hostage.
The suspects – two men, aged 26 and 34, and two women, aged 35 and 40 – allegedly forced their victim to have sex with up to 15 men a day in return for money.
The 35-year-old told prosecutors that she scouted for “clients” on the dating app Tinder after losing her job due to the impact of Covid-19.
“I used to work as a maid and became jobless due to Covid-19.
“A few days later, I met one of the male defendants and offered to help them find clients for trafficking victims on Tinder and WhatsApp.
“Some of the women (victims) were sold on Tinder for BD500 each.
“I would also get BD5 for each customer I brought to have sex with the women.
“My male co-defendants used to assault the women if they refused. They would also starve the women to force them into the vice trade.”
A detective previously described how the 40-year-old female defendant nicknamed Hana lured women on social media.He said she promised them jobs in a hair salon before forcing them into the vice trade.
They were then ordered to pay BD1,500 in return for their freedom or become prostitutes.
The GDN earlier reported that a 26-year-old victim who escaped from the gang’s clutches contacted police, leading to their arrest.
The defendants had allegedly tricked the woman into believing that she was going to work in a hair salon before forcing her into prostitution.
The victim said she was locked up in an apartment in Manama in July.
However, she managed to flee her captors after taking the keys to her room while they were asleep.
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