A West Vancouver woman accused of human trafficking will appear in court for the first time next week.
Mumtaz Ladha, 55, was arrested at Vancouver International Airport July 19 and released on a promise to appear in Vancouver provincial court on Aug. 10.
The RCMP announced the arrest, made two months after a warrant for her arrest was issued, on Thursday. Ladha had been returning from Tanzania, according to other media.
Ladha, a British Properties resident, was charged with human trafficking and human smuggling in May after a domestic servant accused her of having forced her to work without pay for a year in Ladha's multi-million-dollar Bramwell Road home.
The 21-year-old servant alleged that Ladha had lured her into the arrangement in 2008 by promising her a work visa and telling her she would be employed at a hair salon. Ladha then allegedly took the woman's passport and put her to work as a servant without compensation for as many as 18 hours a day, including duties like washing guests' cars and hand-washing the family's underwear. She was only given leftovers to eat and was not allowed to sleep until the rest of the family was sleeping, according to police.
The servant reportedly fled to a women's shelter in June 2009 and later related her experience to the authorities. West Vancouver police and an RCMP border integrity team launched an investigation that culminated in the arrest warrant in May.
Investigators said the woman had stayed in the home for a year because she hadn't understood Canadian work standards and had not had the proper visa to be in the country.
The alleged victim is now living in Canada legally, according to police.
