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JOHOR BAHRU: Enjoy service first, pay later, that’s one of the methods used by a prostitution union here to attract their clients, especially foreigners since 2018.
Police were able to uncover such activity through raids under Ops Noda on five budget hotels here at 10.30pm, August 27, and 5.30pm yesterday.
State Police Chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said 12 local men and one woman, aged 31 to 63, were detained. They are suspected of being the organizers of the prostitution ring.
Twenty-one women from Vietnam, Indonesia (nine) and Thailand (one), aged 19 to 36, were also arrested. They are all believed to be prostitutes.
The police also seized 15 cell phones, 125 condoms, seven hotel access cards, two tubes of lubricants, a bottle of massage oil, eight towels, eight rolls of tissue paper, and cash worth RM1670.
“The prostitution union operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week and was said to have imposed payments of between 190 and 650 ringgit depending on the package offered,” he said today at a press conference at the headquarters of the police contingent. from Johor.
According to Ayob, to attract clients, the suspects used numerous methods, including promoting photos of prostitutes through social media applications WeChat, Michat and WhatsApp, as well as displaying photos of the prostitutes on their phones to men who passed by. to the office. local.
In addition, the union also provided prostitute delivery services at delivery rates ranging from RM20 to RM50 depending on the distance.
“It was also discovered that the union was providing 555 notebooks to allow clients to waive the payment to secure the service of a prostitute and resolve it later. Most of the clients were foreigners and the activities increased on weekends, ”he said.
Regarding the captured prostitutes, Ayob said that some of them had valid social visiting passes, while the rest had expired visit passes or had entered the country illegally.
“We are still conducting investigations to determine if the union is also conducting activity outside of Johor, including Singapore,” he said.
All the detainees would be sent to preventive detention for a week for investigations.
Ayob said police had detained 1,788 people, including 1,019 foreigners, through 337 operations under Ops Noda between January 1 and August 31 this year.
Meanwhile, he said, local authorities should work with the police to combat prostitution activities in cheap hotels in the state.
