bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Clifford Lo

Guangdong agencies are linked  to racket bringing in prostitutes

Mainland women seeking work as prostitutes in Hong Kong are buying documents using false identities for as little as $1,500 from Guangdong travel agencies, government sources told the Sunday Morning Post.

The racket has led to an unprecedented crackdown by Hong Kong immigration authorities at border checkpoints as the triad-run sex trade threatens to escalate.

The sources say the documents let the women work for three months in Hong Kong. For $6,000 they can get a multiple-journey permit which is valid for a year.

At least three travel agencies are suspected of helping the sex workers apply for travel documents on the mainland. Their offices are either in Shenzhen or Guangzhou.

Investigations revealed  the travel agencies  used the identities of permanent residents registered in Guangdong to help sex workers apply for travel documents, according to one source.

The source said the two-way permits were either for business visits or for visiting relatives in Hong Kong.

'For those with business visas, some came  with  just enough [money] to buy a see-through shirt. They did not even have a bogus business card,' the source said.

'If they are caught during vice crackdowns in Hong Kong and repatriated to the mainland, they  can buy a new travel document with the identity of another woman  [using] their own photographs.'

The racket was revealed by mainland sex workers   arrested in Hong Kong during recent anti-vice crackdowns.

The women told police  they had each paid $1,500 to $6,000 to buy the documents from three travel agencies. In the past, mainland prostitutes had to pay more than $10,000.

Links between mainland travel agencies and prostitution rackets in Hong Kong are also being investigated and one source said information had been passed on to the Beijing authorities.

Immigration officers have refused entry to 4,386 suspect mainland visitors  in the first quarter of this year - a 45.6 per cent increase  on  the 3,012  in the same period last year.

It is alleged the travel agencies also supplied the women with maps  indicating where they could find pimps in Hong Kong.  Prostitution rackets controlled by two triad societies - 14K and Wo Shing Wo - are reportedly active in the Kowloon West region, according to police.

'Mainland prostitutes have to pay their pimps about two-thirds of the money they charge their clients, but [the pimps] offer customers, lookouts and accommodation,' a police source said.

In the first four months of the year, 3,421 mainland prostitutes have been arrested.  There were 10,863 arrests in the whole of last year.

Police arrested a mainland visitor in connection with a  minibus robbery when he crossed the Lowu border checkpoint on Thursday.

The man, 32, is suspected of being one of the two bandits who hijacked a green minibus with 14 passengers and escaped with $16,000 and mobile phones  on the Tolo Highway, Tai Po, on October 26.

Police said the suspect would be charged with robbery and would appear in Fanling Court tomorrow.



Sex workers buy travel permits for $1,500