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Clifford Lo

Mainland women say they were drugged and smuggled unconscious into HK to work as prostitutes

Two mainland women were allegedly drugged before being smuggled into the city, guarded by four men, and forced to work as prostitutes in a brothel, according to police.

Their ordeals were revealed  after the two mainlanders, aged 21 and 22, were found  crying in a public phone booth in Lai Chi Kok Road, Shamshuipo, after escaping from an alleged brothel before dawn yesterday.

A male passer-by, 32, discovered the  women at about 6am.

They told him  they were from the mainland and needed police assistance.

The pair told investigators  they were drugged on the mainland on Sunday and Monday and smuggled into the city when they were unconscious, the spokesman said. 'The two mainland women claimed that they lost consciousness after taking some water or inhaling smoke in the two separate cases,' he said.

'As they regained consciousness on the following day, they found that they were locked in a room [in Hong Kong] and guarded by four men they did not know. It is alleged that they were forced to work as prostitutes as the four men threatened to beat them up.'

The two women, who were locked in the same room, escaped through a window after the guards fell asleep.

They told police they had hidden in the telephone booth because  they wanted to call police.

Officers drove the two victims around the district in an attempt to find the brothel but they did not recognise  the area and  were unable to point out the location, police said.

One of the investigators said the women were uninjured and officers were still looking into their claims.  They were still helping police with their inquiries last night. Detectives from Shamshuipo police station are investigating the case, which has been classified as 'unlawful detention'.

The case of the two women comes just two days after the US State Department's annual report on human rights was released, in which it claimed Hong Kong was both a transit point and a destination for prostitutes.

Since 2001, the report has claimed Hong Kong is a transit and destination point for  people trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Both the Security Bureau and the Immigration Department have dismissed the claim.



Police investigate sex-slave claims