A MAN and woman are to stand trial accused of trafficking a 16-year-old girl to the UK in order to force her into prostitution.

Jarina Alan, 43, and brother-in-law Diquzzamam Khan, 49, are alleged to have made the girl work out of a makeshift brothel at their Newham home between May and October last year.

Alan is also charged with twice trafficking her to the UK from Bangladesh – firstly in January 2007, and again in May last year.

On the first trip, the girl, then aged 16, was said to have been “threatened” into working as a prostitute for six months before returning to her home country.

Both defendants, who are yet to formally enter a plea, and the victim are Bangladeshi nationals, the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

They were arrested last October after the girl went to the police. Phil Emery, defending, said his clients “strenuously refuted” the charges, which they considered to be “malicious, calculated allegations.”

Alan and Khan are unemployed, were financially secure and received support from relatives overseas, he added. An application by the prosecution for the pair to be remanded in custody was turned down.

Releasing the pair on bail, District Judge Quentin Purdy banned them from contacting any witnesses in the case and warned against “misguided notions of maintaining the Bangladeshi community’s reputation.”

They were ordered to each pay a �5,000 security to the court and told to report daily to their local police station.

In addition, they will wear electronic tags on their ankles which will monitor a 7pm to 7am curfew and they must not leave the boundaries of the M25 motorway and or apply for international travel documents.

Their passports had already been seized by the police and will be retained until the conclusion of their trial.

Khan and Alan, both of High Street, East Ham, will appear again before the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 10 for their case to be committed to the Crown Court.