Four Pak men jailed in UAE for major human trafficking case

Four Pakistani ringleaders of a major human trafficking gang were sentenced to a year in jail each followed by deportation by a Sharjah court for bringing 35 compatriots for begging in the UAE, according to a media report today.

The Sharjah Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced the four yesterday in the case, considered to be first he first of its kind in the UAE, the Gulf News reported.

Presiding Judge Mahmoud Abkar sent the four Pakistanis to jail for one year each followed by deportation.

They were accused of forcing 14 physically challenged people into begging.

The anti-human trafficking team of Sharjah Police arrested the gang members after they received an information that the suspects had brought 35 Pakistani men and women to the UAE and were forcing them to beg.

During the raid, police discovered that the 35 victims, who had been brought to the UAE from Pakistan to beg, were kept in inhumane conditions, the report said.

The case, considered to be first he first of its kind in the UAE, was filed against the suspects in accordance with to UAE's anti-human trafficking law.

Police investigations revealed that the head of the gang had brought the people of determination from different parts of Pakistan for forcing them into begging in the UAE.

In April, Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, had praised the efforts exerted by law enforcement agencies to uncover this case.