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14 people arrested following anti-vice raids in Singapore and Hong Kong
Kolette Lim
The four men and 10 women, aged between 24 and 44, were nabbed during a cross-border operation between Nov 4 and 20. PHOTOS: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
SINGAPORE - Fourteen people were arrested for vice-related activities after multiple locations in Singapore and Hong Kong were raided by the cities’ respective police forces over 17 days.
The four men and 10 women, aged between 24 and 44, were nabbed during a cross-border operation between Nov 4 and 20.
Eight of the suspects were arrested for abetting vice and the remaining six were vice workers, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Nov 21.
SPF, together with the Hong Kong Police Force, conducted the raids at 13 locations in an effort to target transnational vice syndicates.
During the operation in Singapore, a 33-year-old man, who allegedly operated an online vice syndicate, was arrested. SPF is also investigating three vice workers, aged between 24 and 31.
Mobile phones and vice-related paraphernalia were also seized.
Assistant Commissioner Yeo Yee Chuan, deputy director of the SPF’s Criminal Investigation Department, said that these syndicates use technology to facilitate their operations and extend their reach abroad.
Their methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and they operate remotely, often from overseas, he added.
Chief Superintendent Simon Kwan, who heads the Hong Kong Police Force’s organised crime and triad bureau, said that such cross-border operations reflect the authorities’ commitment to crack down on organised criminal groups, regardless of where they are based.
In Singapore, those who knowingly live on the earnings of the prostitution of another person may face a jail term of up to seven years, be fined up to $100,000, or both.
Those found guilty of using a remote communication service with a Singapore link that offers or facilitates sexual services by a woman or a girl in Singapore for payment or a reward may be jailed for up to five years, fined up to $100,000, or both.
