Almost 100 suspected sex workers arrested in Hong Kong anti-vice crackdown
Suspected prostitutes from Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and mainland China picked up during raid on 14-storey Mong Kok building
Police have arrested nearly 100 suspected sex workers, including 17 Russians and seven Thai transgender women in one of Hong Kong’s biggest anti-vice crackdowns, raiding a building where flats had been illegally subdivided into more than 100 cubicles converted into brothel rooms.
With the help of immigration officers on Monday night, police detained two women from Ukraine, one from Kazakhstan, 13 from Thailand and 59 female visitors from the mainland, the force said.
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Investigators said at least two 14K triad-linked prostitution syndicates had arranged for the 99 suspects to work and provide sex services in the “one-woman” brothels.
Revealing details of the operation on Tuesday, Chief Inspector Nick Pearson of Mong Kok police district said the syndicates had connections in mainland China and other countries such as Russia and Thailand, where the women were recruited before being sent to Hong Kong.
Upon arrival in the city, they were taken to King Hing Building in Argyle Street, Mong Kok where they worked as prostitutes, he said.
“Investigations showed [the subdivided flats] were used as one-prostitute brothels and accommodation for the suspects,” Pearson said, adding that the women had to pay the syndicates who supplied towels, condoms and daily necessities.
The Post was told that if one sex worker charged HK$600 (US$77), she kept HK$300 to HK$400 and the rest went to the syndicates for the cost of the room and other services.