One arrested for prostitution claims she came on vacation with husband

One of 13 suspects arrested in a crackdown on an alleged prostitution ring last month told the court on Sunday that she came to Maldives on vacation with her husband.

The police arrested 13 suspects in raids on four locations in Male’ City on May 17, in a joint operation by the Police Anti-Human Trafficking Department, Police Intelligence, and Maldives Immigration.

The suspects include eight Bangladeshi males, one Bangladeshi female, and four Thai females.

The Criminal Court granted an extension to the remand of one of the suspects, a 28-year-old Bangladeshi woman, on Sunday. The court extended her remand by 15 days.

According to court document, the prostitution ring was run out of an unregistered guesthouse. Police said they found evidence of the woman’s involvement in the prostitution from the guesthouse.

However, she claimed she came to Maldives on vacation with her husband.

Police said the suspects arrested in the case had been assigned different tasks. Some of them ran the guesthouse while others were tasked with advertising prostitutes on social media and gaining clients. Others were involved in transporting the prostitutes to different locations.

Another suspect arrested in the case, a 33-year-old Bangladeshi male, is accused of recruiting woman from overseas for prostitution in Maldives. The court extended his remand by 15 days on Saturday.

Police said other suspects corroborated the suspicion against him, and that they found evidence of communications between him and the other suspects.