DUBAI, 30 November 2003 — Police have closed down 34 massage parlors in the last two years in an attempted crackdown on a thriving illegal sex trade, a local official said yesterday.

“We have closed 34 massage parlors that violated the law in the last two years. Of those we closed some were licensed while others were not and so they were closed,” Muhammad Hilal Al-Muroushedi, director of the compliance division of the department of economic development, told AFP.

According to Dubai legislation, a massage for a male must be carried out by a male and a massage for a woman must be performed by a woman. Al-Muroushedi said that spot checks on parlors showed that law was being violated and additional services were being offered after the massage.

Most of the women arrested and later deported came in on visas as part of tour guide companies, or posing as tourists, mostly from China.

“We request the local sponsor to begin proceedings by canceling the workers’ visa after which the people involved are blacklisted from entering the country,” Al-Muroushedi also told the Khaleej Times.

Individuals who sponsor those working in the parlors also face fines up to 20,000 dirhams, while the women face deportation.

“We have cracked down on them, and while I can’t say it is 100 percent in terms of parlors abiding by the law it is much better than before,” Al-Muroushedi was quoted as saying by AFP.

But the problem exists also outside massage parlors, with women operating without a trade license from private homes and apartments.