Dubai, April 7 (IANS): Three expatriate Indians have been accused of forcing a woman into the flesh trade on the pretext of giving her a job as a maid in the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi, media reported Monday.

A criminal court in Abu Dhabi heard the case Sunday of the three Indian men accused of picking up the Indian woman from Abu Dhabi International Airport and luring her into prostitution, The National reported Monday.

The trio, identified as SK, MS and ZN, were caught after the police raided an apartment on Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi, from where the prostitution racket operated, based on information given by the victim.

The woman, identified as SF, said she was beaten and forced to have sex with customers.

She was blackmailed that her husband in India would be informed about her activities, police told the court.

The victim said she would be tied up and taken to several hotels for prostitution.

The police told the court that they recovered receipts of large sums of money transferred by one of the accused, MS, to his family in India.

The defendant contended that the money was earned through freelance jobs.