201 arrested in Singapore and China in joint anti-vice operation
More than 200 individuals have been arrested in Singapore and China in a joint operation against a transnational vice syndicate, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a statement on Monday (3 December).
The joint operation, which was conducted between 22 October and 23 November this year, saw 23 men and 178 women detained. Officers from the SPF and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) coordinated simultaneous raids at 83 locations in Singapore and in various parts of China.
173 women and 12 men, aged between 19 and 53, were arrested in the Republic for offences under the Women’s Charter, while five women and 11 men, aged between 21 and 48, were arrested in China.
Cash amounting to almost $70,000, laptops and mobile phones were seized as case exhibits in Singapore, while cash amounting to about RMB420,000 ($83,000) was seized in China.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the vice syndicate in China was operating a vice website which advertised the sexual services of Chinese women in Singapore,” said an SPF spokesperson.
“The syndicate was believed to have arranged for these Chinese women to travel to Singapore to carry out vice activities, and they were operating mainly at private apartments and HDB flats in the heartlands.”
House owners play an important role in preventing vice activities, and are reminded to conduct regular checks on their tenants to prevent such activities from proliferating in residential estates, added the spokesperson.
House owners who knowingly rent their premises to any person for vice-related activities will be prosecuted and face imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding $3,000, or both.
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