GOVERNMENT has rescued three female human trafficking victims after they were “unknowingly” transported to Oman for labour and sexual exploitation, a Harare magistrate heard yesterday.
This emerged after a human trafficking suspect, Tendai Muswe (30), was arraigned before magistrate Dennis Mangosi to answer to the human trafficking charge.
Muswe was remanded to today for bail application.
It is alleged that in February this year, Muswe working in cahoots with Forward Mashonganyika, who had appeared in court earlier on, Hassan Mohammed Ali Al Shihhi based in Oman and another local agent who is still at large, hatched a plan to traffic three unsuspecting victims to Dubai for the purposes of labour and sexual exploitation.
The accused and his accomplices created a WhatsApp group in which they advertised non-existent jobs in Dubai.
They then recruited the three victims after promising them high-paying hotel jobs. Visas and air tickets were processed, as well as medical reports.
The victims found themselves in Oman, instead of Dubai and only realised that they had been duped upon arrival at Muscat International Airport in Oman.
In Oman, they were received by Al Shihhi who confiscated their passports and drove them to an unknown location, where they were sold as house slaves.
- Teachers, other civil servants face off
- Veld fire management strategies for 2022
- Thieves target city boreholes
- Magistrate in court for abuse of power
Keep Reading
The victims were allegedly subjected to domestic servitude; working round the clock for no pay, feeding on leftovers, and were subjected to sexual and physical abuse, and denied freedom of movement by being restricted indoors.
The matter only came to light when the victims reported their ordeal through Interpol, and relatives back home, in turn, reported the matter to the police for investigations, which led to the arrest of the accused.
Government then intervened and the victims were located and repatriated back to Zimbabwe.
