Expatriate Girl Allegedly Gang Raped by Desert Tour Operator
DUBAI – It is alleged that a young
girl has been gang raped by nine expatriate men in a distant
desert as her mother looked helpless. The men working with a
tour operating company have allegedly lured a woman and her
young daughter from Dubai to attend desert camp in Murmum located on the Dubai-Al Ain
route and trapped the girl. What appears to be a racket luring
families with young girls to participate in weekend picnics
and desert camps the young girl who accompanied her mother to
a party in the desert was allegedly gang raped by these men.
"We heard a loud call for help and saw the girl and her mother crying
in the desert area of Murmum and it
was clear that the girl was gang raped by many man. The mother
and daughter were crying and her dress was torn. It was night
and some Good Samaritans helped the mother and daughter to reach
home in Dubai," informed sources said."They threatened the girl. The location
is at Murmum on the Dubai-Al Ain road. The identity of the victim or her mother is not
disclosed as other family members are not informed of the crime.
The victims did not complaint to the police also because of
obvious reasons,' they added. Often people get drunk in the
late night parties.
"The men lured the daughter and mother to the desert, after making
friendship through family connections developed through such
parties," said sources. There are many informal and formal
tour operators who take expatriate families from Dubai
and Sharjah to Ajman, Umm al Quwain
and other tourism destinations. The tour operator befriends
families as male and female members of the group pretend like
genuine families and make friendship with them, added one of
the party goers. Ultimately they take them to desert camps and
safari trips, sometimes without the male member of family. However,
the "family friend" allegedly has ulterior intentions
in developing such friendship." Once the families are dropped
in the main road, they are drawn in four wheel drives to the
desert areas for night parties and safaris. The families are
dropped back in four wheel drives from where they take taxis
back to Dubai.
As it is desert there are no one to
help the victims.
"The
tour operator employee develops friendship with other families
and lures them to attend birth day parties and other events
held in desert camps. A man and woman pretend as husband and
wife and develop friendship with other families, which start
from such camps," said informed sources. "The releation
is further developed and the couple sometimes visits the families
and goes out with them for shopping. After strengthening this
friendship, they lure the families to attend such camps held
in the night," said sources. In this particular case, one
of the accused had developed "friendship" with the
mother who went to the desert camp without informing her husband.
Apparently she took her daughter along to attend the party.
However, the young daughter was allegedly gang raped as her
mother looked helpless.
"I don’t know anything about this
incident. There was a birthday party and one of the participants
got drunk and created some trouble in the camp. We forced the
drunken person to go out of the party who is spreading this
story," said Z, working with a leading tour operator of
Dubai. According to him, the entire story
is cooked up to tarnish their image. However, he refused to
give the name of the alleged lady and admitted that regular
parties are being held in the desert and expatriate families
join. "There were seven families who participated in the
birthday party and I don’t know anything about this alleged
rape," Z said. "There are parties every day and we
carry people, especially Europeans for desert camps. We are
living with family and the parties go up to 8 to 9 PM,"
he says. "These are decent gatherings and there are belly
dances and henna dances," the man added.