Crime | 151 detained in prostitution crack down

The Judiciary Police (PJ) deployed 200 investigators to crack down on a prostitution group. In total, 151 people were detained by police officers for further investigation, according to the PJ’s report, which was released yesterday.

The group is said to have been operating since 2014. From 2017 until the crackdown, the group made more than MOP310 million from prostitution. Of the 151 detained, 13 are members of a criminal group.

Most of the operation’s masterminds are mainlanders, the police authority revealed. They worked with pimps from Macau, the mainland, and other places. The women controlled by the pimps were mostly from mainland China, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, though there were also Vietnamese women involved who possessed legal blue cards as cooks, cleaning staff or domestic helpers.

The Judiciary Police did not rule out the possibility of other crimes being committed.

A doctor and a nurse were requested to assist in the police investigation, as the pimps organized regular medical check-ups for the women at an assigned clinic.

In addition to the detentions, MOP6 million in cash was seized, with an additional MOP2 million seized from multiple bank accounts. JZ