PUTRAJAYA – The Immigration Department has successfully busted a prostitution ring and arrested 72 non-citizens in special operations conducted around Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Immigration Director-General Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the operations – started at 9pm and involving officers from the Immigration headquarters’ intelligence and special operations division in Putrajaya – were conducted in Cheras and Kepong as a result of information and intelligence.
“Also arrested were seven local men who acted as ‘captains’ and caretakers of the premises,” he said in a statement today.
He said five premises were raided and 72 non-citizens arrested, involving 43 Vietnamese women, 15 Indonesian women, six Thai women, four Vietnamese men, three Bangladeshi men, and an Indian man. All those detained are aged 25 to 42.
Ruslin said the initial inspection found that they committed various offences including not having valid travel documents, having expired social visit passes, and misusing passes, and the detained non-citizen women were believed to have provided sex services to customers.
Also seized were 48 Vietnamese passports and a grey SUV-type vehicle believed to be used to ferry the women to places chosen by customers, as well as RM6,275 in cash believed to be the result of payment for services offered, he said.
It was also found that the syndicate was operating in a three-storey shop lot unit with the first floor as living quarters while the second and third floors were used for sex services.
He said that the syndicate’s modus operandi was that customers would deal through WhatsApp and be given a password to enter the premises and the women’s bookings would be charged at RM230/hour.
He said the syndicate was believed to have been operating for almost two years and advertised sex services on social media groups, including on WhatsApp and Telegram.
Twenty local men who are customers at the premises have been issued notices to appear to give statements to assist in the investigation.
All the non-citizens arrested were taken to the Semenyih Immigration Depot for action and investigation for offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966, Immigration Regulations 1963, and Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007. – Bernama, June 18, 2023
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