Hong Kong police help smash cross-border smuggling gang that brought 90 prostitutes a month into city
- Joint operation with counterparts in Guangdong leads to 106 arrests, including 35 sex workers
- Officials believe gang had been operating for six months and netted HK$8 million
Hong Kong and Guangdong police have smashed a cross-border syndicate believed to have smuggled as many as 90 prostitutes every month into the city to skip quarantine requirements and travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Local officers also said on Tuesday the force had stepped up intelligence exchange with its mainland counterparts, after the number of illegal immigrants arrested in Hong Kong surged substantially in the past year.
A total of 106 people, including 35 sex workers from the mainland, were arrested in recent joint police and immigration department operations in Hong Kong, which also led to the freezing of HK$6.5 million in bank accounts, and the seizure of HK$1.3 million in cash, 96 mobile phones, 22 computers, and five cars.
Of those arrested, 33 were men and 73 women, aged 19 to 61. The sex workers were 19 to 45 years old.
Briefing the press on the operations on Tuesday, Senior Superintendent Ho Chun-tung, of Hong Kong police’s organised crime and triad bureau, said the syndicate would use speedboats to smuggle mainland women across the border.
