‘2 minors’ and Japanese adult film star found working for prostitution ring broken up by Hong Kong police
- Officers find 15-year-old girl waiting for client in short-stay hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and arrest 16-year-old at industrial unit in Tsuen Wan, insider says
- Adult film actress, 39, and three other Japanese women taken into custody, along with two mainland Chinese visitors, police say
A Japanese adult star and three other visitors from the country were among 10 people arrested in a crackdown on a Hong Kong prostitution ring that mainly provided underage sex workers, the Post learned on Wednesday.
In the raid carried out in the Tsim Sha Tsui nightlife district on Tuesday, officers discovered a 15-year-old girl waiting for a client in a short-stay hotel, a source familiar with the case said.
Police arrested the two alleged ringleaders of the gang waiting inside a car outside the hotel.
An initial investigation indicated the syndicate recruited the girl for sex work about a month ago.
Police would track down her clients, the insider added, and warned that sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 16 was punishable by up to five years in jail.
Chief Inspector Tai Po-yee of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said police would apply for a care and protection order from the courts so authorities could get custody of the girl.
Police arrested a 16-year-old girl at an industrial unit in Tsuen Wan where the gang housed the sex workers, the source said.
The teenager, who had been reported missing by her family, was believed to have also been recruited to serve clients, but was helping locate young girls to work for the syndicate.
Officers also arrested a 23-year-old woman at the industrial unit.
The Japanese adult film actress, 39, and another woman from the country were arrested at a five-star hotel on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Officers also discovered two other Japanese women and two from the mainland in a brothel on Cameron Road.
Superintendent Alan Chung said the investigation showed the four Japanese women were brought into the city either on Sunday or Monday, using the syndicate’s connections with vice rings overseas.
The four Japanese and two mainland women were arrested on suspicion of breaching their conditions of stay.
Police suspect the syndicate was run by a 39-year-old man and his female partner, aged 20, who placed advertisements on social media platforms seeking sex workers, mainly underage girls. Intelligence revealed they offered to pay them HK$2,000 (US$255) to HK$2,500 an hour, Tai said.
Officers found bunk beds spread out across a 2,000 sq ft space when they raided the industrial unit. Police believe gang members arranged for a car to take the sex workers to love hotels or brothels in Tsim Sha Tsui.
“The vice racket charged each client between HK$5,000 and HK$10,000 for sexual services,” Tai said. “The syndicate took at least half of the proceeds as commission.”
The source said intelligence suggested the syndicate had been in operation for about a year.
All 10 suspects were still in police custody on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said the investigation was still under way and that more arrests could not be ruled out.
