Crime | Police bust large Korean prostitution ring

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has busted an organized prostitution syndicate from South Korea over the weekend. A total of 18 Korean and Chinese men were apprehended, after having allegedly been responsible for large-scale sexual manipulation, with the Korean mastermind still at large.
At the press briefing held yesterday at PJ’s headquarters, police revealed that up to 21 Korean women ranging from 24 to 37 years of age were involved in the two-month long prostitution operation, which started in February. The authorities said that the 10 Korean men among the arrested suspects initially launched a citywide recruitment scheme targeting “young and beautiful” women on the streets of Korea, and then flew to Macau with those who agreed upon offering sex in exchange for money.
According to the PJ officer, the Korean women were kept in 11 different apartments in Taipa upon arriving in the city, with meals provided by the syndicate every day during their stay. The police also disclosed that the group sent different groups of women to Macau throughout an extended period.
Every night, from early around eight o’clock to the hours of the morning, the prostitution ring would deploy nine seven-seated automobiles to carry the women throughout the districts with high-end casinos and hotels in the city, in search of potential clients. These included places in Taipa and around the Dynasty Plaza. The pimps were even reported to have touted sexual services inside the casinos and in the hotels located in the above districts, while the Korean prostitutes remained in the cars waiting.
Interested men would be escorted to the cars outside the venues before selecting their favourite prostitutes, with whom to have sex in their own hotel rooms. After the service, the Korean prostitutes would contact the pimps to pick them up in the vehicles.
The amount of money requested for each sexual service, as the police representatives said, ranged between HKD6,000 and HKD20,000. This money, initially kept by either the pimp or the driver, would later be used to compensate the sex workers when they departed the city. The prostitutes would only receive HKD2,000 as remuneration for each deal regardless of the amount received from clients.
The Korean group has allegedly accumulated HKD3 million in fees over the past two months since they began the citywide client hunt.
It was also revealed that there were other eight mainlanders embroiled in the commercial sexual operation, and who were mainly responsible for offering translation services to the group. Those Chinese accomplices were said to have collaborated with the prostitution ring given that,, according to police authorities, the two parties “have known each other for a while in the casinos.”
On the night of April 19 at around 11 o’clock, the PJ authorities raided select rooms of the four high-end hotels on the Cotai Strip and in the NAPE district, with four Korean women and some men involved in the sex deal being intercepted. Later the brigade also caught the remaining members of the syndicate in the above districts.
The PJ have initiated an international manhunt with the Korean police authorities for the group’s mastermind, who is believed to currently be in South Korea.
All the men behind the organized prostitution ring were reported to be unemployed and between the ages of 23 to 49. Staff reporter

Serial mainland stealer responsible for bus thefts caught

A mainlander allegedly involved in four thefts taking place on public transportation since the beginning of this year was caught by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Sunday. He is also believed to be connected with other bus thefts, as suggested by a further line of inquiry that is currently under way.
According to the police authorities, a large number of theft reports have come pouring into the department since January, with most of these occurring on buses. After a series of investigations, the PJ officers pinpointed the 22-year-old Chinese mainlander with the surname Wei as the perpetrator in those cases. The man, hailing from Guangxi province, was intercepted and arrested when he was again in town in the middle of this month.
On January 10 and 17 respectively, the suspect stole a total of around MOP4600 from two individuals on board buses. Last Saturday, during his stay in the city, he again managed to take around MOP4500 from two people boarding buses on different routes on the same day.
The Police authorities believe that the man might also be responsible for other bus thefts over the past four months.

Jewelry store falls for HKD1m hoax

Police authorities have revealed at a press briefing yesterday that a jewelry store near the casino of Grand Lisboa lost almost HKD1 million of cash early on Sunday morning to an unknown man whose voice resembles the male friend of the store’s owner.
It was reported that the shop’s one staff member, who was working on the night shift, received a call from a man who identified himself as his boss’s friend. The caller requested a total of HKD987.69 thousand in cash in order to resolve an urgent business matter. According to the account provided by the police officer, the ensnared worker understood the phone call to have come from the same person, who is a close friend of his boss’s and frequents the shop from time to time, as their voices are almost identical. The staff member then handed the cash to another man who entered the store for money at the request of the man on the phone.
The hoax call came to light when another staff member working during the day discovered the appearance of the hefty sum of money before reporting it to his employer by phone. The employer denied that his friend had made this request.