JOHOR BARU: A prostitution syndicate was crippled with the arrest of five individuals including a Zambian man in ‘Ops Pintas’ raid at a business premises at Taman Nusa Bestari near Skudai, here, last night.
Iskandar Puteri district police chief ACP Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said three men and a local woman were arrested, aged between 23 and 47.
All were detained at 11.35pm by a team of members and officers from the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department with Johor and Iskandar Puteri contingent headquarters.
In the raid, the police also rescued 23 Vietnamese and Thai women aged 15 to 39 years old, believed to be victims of the prostitution syndicate.
“Based on the statement of the suspect, the syndicate is believed to have been operating for three years,“ he said in a statement, here today.
Dzulkhairi said among the Thai nationals rescued, some of them had only been here for three days to a week while the Vietnamese, most of them had been here between a month to a year.
The police also seized 443 pieces of condoms, victims’ work record, RM27,460 cash and a white Mercedes Benz vehicle.
“We also seized S$420 cash, a checkbook, a Mercedes Benz car key unit, a silver iPad, two black and red colour pens, three door remote controls, a Canon brand calculator, two bath towels, three Carex Lubricating Jelly tube, seven different brands of mobile phones, two rolls of tissue and a small notebook,“ he said.
He added, all suspects would be remanded for five days, starting today. — Bernama
