Dubai: Dubai Police have busted a gang which held a young Vietnamese woman in captivity for five days and tried to force her into the flesh trade.

The police arrested five Vietnamese nationals, including a woman, who allegedly trapped the victim after she reached the country on a visit visa on June 26, an Arabic newspaper reported.

The woman in her 20s was issued a visit visa by one of her friends here. However, the friend did not arrive at the airport to receive the former and told her to take a taxi to her apartment.

Upon reaching there, the victim found the apartment locked. Another compatriot offered her a place to stay.

When she reached that flat, the victim realised that it was a trap since the gang tried to force her to do sex work. When she refused, the woman was kept in illegal confinement for five days, physically assaulted and threatened.

However, the gang got cold feet when they found out that the victim had managed to convey her plight to her mother back home, who complained to the Vietnamese Embassy which, in turn, tipped off Dubai Police.

Meanwhile, fearing that they would be caught, the gang sent the victim to the airport. Airport officials reported to Al Rashidiya police that a woman, who can speak only Vietnamese, was having a nervous breakdown.

Realising that it is the same woman about whom the embassy had informed the police, a team of Dubai Police, including officials from the victim care department, rushed to the airport.

The newspaper quoted Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police for Criminal Investigation, as saying that the woman was comforted by the officials and sent to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children until the investigation was complete and the police arrested the gang in record time based on the information provided by the victim.

Reem Al Amiri, the communications officer at the victim care department, personally followed up the case on a daily basis and even hosted the victim at her house the night before the first day of Eid, the report said. She was issued a new ticket and sent home on the first day of Eid. Dubai Police also made sure that the victim reached home safe, it added.