Investigators in Shanghai have cracked a prostitution ring run by teenage girls working for 'pocket money', with two of the more than 20 suspects under the age of 14, local media reported.
Most of the girls involved in the ring are still in high school and were reported to have been contacting clients through internet chat forums and via mobile phones.
'Many of the suspect girls were actively prostituting [themselves] and introducing prostitutes for pocket money,' the Xinmin Evening News quoted an unnamed prosecutor as saying. 'The clients had formed a regular 'circle', in a format similar to Japanese society's so-called 'compensated dating'.'
Three girls believed to be the instigators of the ring face charges of offering sex services and acting as go-betweens, introducing their classmates and friends into the sex trade, prosecutors told the paper.
The Shanghai Daily reported that some of the girls came from 'families with decent economic backgrounds' and claimed to be unaware they were breaking the law.
'To me, it's not even realistic or worthwhile to study hard, go to university and have a decent job,' the paper quoted one suspect, identified only by the nickname 'Xiao Wen', as saying.