Seven local men and a woman, including a civil servant, were arrested on Sunday for their alleged involvement in a cross-border prostitution gang.
A total of 29 sex workers from the mainland were also caught during the operation, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
Police seized large quantities of sex-work paraphernalia such as disposable towels, about 20,000 condoms, massage oil, personal lubricant, and 240,000 patacas in cash suspected to be earnings from prostitution.
The eight local suspects comprise a 40-year-old jobless man surnamed Lei who the police suspect to be the kingpin of the gang, three key gang members – a 35-year-old male civil servant surnamed Fong, a 33-year-old female real-estate agent surnamed Chan and a 54-year-old male food factory worker surnamed Leng, and four other local male suspects aged between 58 and 67. The 29 female sex workers, aged between 26 and 52, are from different provinces in the mainland.
According to the spokeswoman, the Judiciary Police had been receiving tip-offs since 2020 about a number of locals controlling prostitutes.
The Judiciary Police conducted intelligence exchanges with the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Zhuhai and identified the suspects. PJ officers took action on Sunday and arrested the eight suspects at their homes. They went to two hotels in the city centre and took the 29 sex workers as well as the eight suspects to a police station for further investigation. The officers discovered that the gang rented a parking space in Zape for 2,000 patacas per month as a storage place to keep a large number of sex-work paraphernalia such as disposable towels and condoms. More than 80 items including smartphones, tablet computers, hard drives and suspected illegal earnings of 240,000 patacas were seized during the operation.
The spokeswoman said that the gang had been in operation for about three years, and its members had opened dozens of chat groups on their smartphones to attract mainland women to come to Macau for prostitution. After the women joined the chat groups, they needed to pay a “membership fee” ranging between 100 and 300 yuan. After each sex deal, the prostitutes were required to pay a virtual “red envelope” (紅관) of several hundred yuan to the chat group owners.
According to the spokeswoman, Lei was tasked with taking “sexy photos” of the prostitutes, providing contact numbers and posting the photos and numbers online. Each sex deal cost between 250 and 1,300 patacas. Fong’s job was to post online “recruitment messages” for which he received between nine and 88 yuan per message. According to the spokeswoman, Fong received up to 100,000 patacas for his job. Chan’s job was it to purchase sex-work items online and then to sell them to the prostitutes, earning the price difference. Chan and Leng were tasked with delivering the sex-work paraphernalia as well as providing meal delivery services. Chan told the police that she had earnt 1.4 million patacas.
The spokeswoman said that the sex workers entered Macau with valid travel documents. The Judiciary Police discovered that dozens of phone numbers used for prostitution were registered under the names of the four other local suspects who refused to cooperate with the police. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case, looking for other possible suspects.
The eight suspects and the sex workers were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday. The eight suspects face charges of organised crime and controlling prostitutes, according to the spokeswoman.
Customarily, sex workers from the mainland are merely deported and barred from entering Macau for a period of time.
While prostitution is not illegal in Macau, it is illegal to live off the earnings of a prostitute. Besides, tourists are not allowed to engage in gainful employment during their stay here.
Four of the eight prostitution gang suspects are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to two PJ vehicles in Zape yesterday. Photos: Camy Tam
Evidence seized from the eight suspects and 29 sex workers such as 240,000 patacas cash, over a dozen of smartphones, computer tablets, hard drives and sex-work paraphernalia is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
