In the first case of its kind on the mainland, Sichuan police have arrested a man attempting to sell Russian women into prostitution.
A police officer in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, which borders the Russian far east, said that three Russian women in their early 20s had entered the city of Suifenhe on May 17 on tourist visas.
The women later made contact with a local crime boss named 'Fourth Brother' who sold them for 12,000 yuan (HK$11,280) to another gangster named Li Qingxi, a 34-year-old married man.
The officer said Li was planning to sell the three women at a high profit to brothels in Sichuan province when police received a tip-off and arrested him and freed the three women. However, they failed to catch 'Fourth Brother', who is still being sought.
'This is the first case we have come across of Russian women being traded for prostitution,' the officer said. 'But many women came across the border to work in this business, driven by poverty at home. There they can earn just the equivalent of 300 yuan a month, while in China they can earn 2,000 yuan. They enter China on tourist visas, as part of a tour group.' Initially, the three women were reluctant to explain the circumstances of their case to police, but the officer said that they eventually opened up. 'We had heard from other people how easy it was to earn money in China,' one of the three said. The women, who do not speak Putonghua, are helping police with their inquiries before being repatriated.
Russian women work as prostitutes in many of the mainland's larger cities and are able to charge fees several times higher than that of local women, because of their rarity value, fair hair and European features.