28 held over slick sex-trafficking ring

Ayra Wang

Twenty-eight members of a syndicate have been busted for recruiting foreign women for the purpose of prostitution, generating over HK$10 million in revenue.

The operation was part of a crackdown on November 16 and 17 that targeted a prostitution ring controlled by a local triad.

Chief Inspector Kwok Chun-kit of the regional anti-triad unit of Hong Kong Island said officers raided 18 subdivided units in a Wan Chai building, as well as a warehouse in Fo Tan that stored supplies for prostitution.

"The syndicate provided one-stop services, facilitating the entry of overseas residents into Hong Kong as tourists and managing their prostitution-related activities in subdivided units," Kwok said.

It assigned people to inspect the units daily and collected half the prostitutes' earnings while supplying all necessary items and offering other forms of support.

Among the 28 were key members - two men and four women, aged 25 to 59.

Also apprehended were 18 foreign women, aged 24 to 42, all of whom were here on travel visas and four locals, aged 59 to 65, who rented out the premises.

The key members and landlords face charges of living off the earnings of prostitution, controlling persons for prostitution, renting premises for use as a vice establishment and money laundering. The triad behind the syndicate is believed to be 14K, which primarily recruited women from Thailand and Indonesia to engage in prostitution at Hop Yee Building in Wan Chai.

Police seized more than HK$110,000 in cash, brand-name handbags, disposable towels, condoms and lubricants.

"The syndicate had a well-defined structure and scale, with its controlled prostitution locations generating monthly incomes exceeding HK$1 million," Kwok said.

Some of those arrested have been charged and are scheduled to appear in Eastern magistrates' courts today.