The Judiciary Police (PJ) smashed a prostitution ring run by Vietnamese nationals yesterday morning in Iao Hon district and nabbed 56 people – 23 men and 33 women – for further investigation, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a special press conference in Iao Hon yesterday afternoon.
Leng said that some of the suspected gang members caught yesterday were involved in a free-for-all with prohibited weapons in February in Iao Hon district. At that time eight alleged members of two rival Vietnamese gangs were arrested.
The 56 people caught yesterday are aged between 28 and 70 comprising 44 Vietnamese, three local sex clients, a Hongkonger and eight mainlanders. Among the 44 Vietnamese, 12 hold non-resident worker permits (“blue cards”), while the rest hold temporary stay permits or Vietnamese passports.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police noticed the gang’s activities in the district in January. At the same time, the police received complaints from residents in the area as well as community organisations that certain people were running a prostitution ring in a number of flats in old buildings in the district.
A PJ investigation discovered that the gang, which mainly consisted of Vietnamese nationals, had been “active” in the district for about a year. The gang members had been assigned different tasks, according to the investigation.
Leng said that the gang included four key members who rented the flats and recruited other Vietnamese for a range of tasks. Some members were tasked with looking for clients in the alleys or buildings in the area, while other members worked as lookouts whose job it was to warn the prostitutes if police officers were patrolling the area.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police took action yesterday at about 7 a.m. and dispatched a total of 170 PJ officers to search 28 flats in the area. They intercepted 56 people. The officers seized a large quantity of evidence such as rental receipts of the flats, accounting books, lubricants and condoms as well as prohibited weapons including nunchakus (karate sticks) and telescopic batons.
Leng pointed out that the gang members charged the prostitutes between 300 and 500 patacas for daily rent and protection fees, while the prostitutes charged their clients between 150 and 200 patacas each time.
Leng underlined that the Judiciary Police attach great importance to combating prostitution as it is a nuisance to residents and also affects a neighbourhood’s public safety.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case and believe that there are possibly more gang members still on the loose.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers are escorting the suspected members of the Vietnamese prostitution ring during yesterday’s anti-crime operation in Iao Hon district. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the Vietnamese gang members and prostitutes such as lubricants, condoms and a telescopic baton is displayed to the press by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers at the crime scene in Iao Hon district yesterday.
