Two mainland men, together with two Russian women, stalked guests at a hotel in Cotai last Thursday and were later exposed by a security guard for their involvement in prostitution, according to a regular police press conference yesterday.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Kong Chi Ian identified the quartet as two mainlanders, both surnamed Zhang, who are in their twenties and thirties respectively, while the Russians are in their twenties. Both Zhangs entered Macau on September 8, and one of them told the police that his cousin – the other suspect in the case – had promised him 3,000 yuan to arrange for the two Russian suspects to work as prostitutes in Macau.
Kong announced the arrest of the quartet at the press conference, noting that the Public Security Police received a report from the hotel security guard last Thursday who had seen the younger Zhang stalking hotel guests, adding that while he was about to take him from the hotel’s casino to the hotel’s security room to find out what was going on, the other Zhang and the two Russian women accosted him.
PSP officers arrived at the scene where they took the younger Zhang and the two Russian women in for questioning, during which, according to Kong, the two women denied working as prostitutes, while Zhang admitted to having arranged for the two women to engage in prostitution three times.
The Public Security Police arrested the elder Zhang at a hotel lobby on Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança in Taipa on Saturday, who insisted that he did not know the younger Zhang, and he also denied any involvement in prostitution. However, Kong added, PSP officers found HK$16,000 on him, which was believed to be the proceeds from controlling prostitutes.
Kong said that the Public Security Police have transferred the two Zhangs to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for possible charges of controlling prostitutes, while the two Russian women have been transferred to the PSP Immigration Department as they were engaged in activities inconsistent with their status as visitors.
While prostitution is not illegal in Macau, visitors are not allowed to engage in gainful employment.
Meanwhile, in response to a video circulating on social media about police officers taking law enforcement action outside a hotel in Cotai on Saturday, the Public Security Police said in a statement on Monday that they had received a report on Saturday about the interception of the elder Zhang by a hotel security guard in the lobby of a hotel on Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança in Taipa, adding that upon their arrival, PSP officers saw Zhang fleeing the scene so they immediately gave chase and successfully stopped him.
The statement underlined that during the interception, the elder Zhang kept struggling to get away from the officers who finally succeeded in handcuffing him, which did not stop him from still trying to escape, adding that after repeated warnings were ignored by the suspect, the officers used force to overpower him.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows a mainland Chinese man suspected of controlling two Russian prostitutes in Macau beingescorted by a PSP officer to a police station in Taipa.
