114 people arrested in crackdown on sex workers in Hong Kong's Yau Ma Tei

Hong Kong authorities have arrested 114 people, including more than 100 women from mainland China, Taiwan and Thailand, as part of a crackdown on street sex workers in Yau Ma Tei.

Chief Inspector Lam Yuen-ling of the Kowloon West Crime Unit said on Monday that 10 of those arrested, who were arrested during the 18-day anti-vice operation, were Hong Kong residents.

Eight Hong Kongers allegedly served as lookouts and middlemen for a vice syndicate by having sex workers work in subdivided apartments in Yau Ma Tei, she said.

“[The middlepeople] also provided sex workers with condoms, lubricants, mouthwashes and disposable towels,” Lam added.

“In exchange, the sex workers had to pay them rent as well as service fees. »

The police carried out the operation in two phases with officers from the Immigration Department from May 27 to 31 and June 11 to 22 after an investigation.

Officers arrested 110 women and four men during the two phases.

The suspects were arrested on suspicion of running an evil establishment, contributing to the operation of an evil establishment, living off the income of sex workers, soliciting for immoral purposes or having violated their conditions of stay.

Lam said 90 women from the mainland, 13 from Thailand and one from Taiwan were among those arrested.

Lam said the operation destroyed a union that had been operating for about a month.

She also reminded apartment owners and tenants that allowing their homes to be used for evil purposes violates the Crimes Ordinance and is punishable by up to seven years in prison. prison.

Lam added that police would continue to take action to combat the vice trade.

She said the crackdown was part of an ongoing operation, dubbed Thunderbolt 2024, carried out by police in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong.

The annual operation, designed to target triads and organized crime in the three locations, is seen as a “cleansing” campaign ahead of the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule on July 1 and National Day on the 1st. october.

Police processed 787 reports of triad-related crimes in the first five months of this year, an increase of 6.2% compared to the 741 cases recorded during the same period in 2023.