International vice ring working with four-star hotels

PETALING JAYA: A prostitution ring busted by the Immigration Department had been operating in cahoots with certain hotels, says Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.

“They have the cooperation of the management of the hotels and have been operating for more than two years,” said the department’s director-general.

Investigations showed that the syndicate worked closely with the respective hotels, where the girls met their clients.

Last week, the international prostitution ring was crippled with the arrests of 26 women and their handlers.

Their services, which cost RM450 for a 45-minute sex romp, was “advertised” through WeChat.

Most of the women, who operated in Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya, came from Mongolia, Uzbekistan, China and Indonesia.

According to Mustafar, the syndicate picked certain four-star hotels for their “exclusivity”.

“They were trying to fool the authorities,” he said.

Mustafar said the foreign women had entered Malaysia using social visitor passes.

“When their passes neared expiry, the women would leave the country and re-enter using renewed visitor passes. This is their modus operandi,” he said.

The syndicate, he said, had at least 150 women working for them.

“We believe the women were placed at different locations.

“They were moved from time to time to avoid capture.

“The syndicate also employed agents to bring the women to Malaysia while some of the foreign women were tasked with scouting new recruits from their home countries,” he said, adding hundreds of women had been employed by the syndicate over the years.

The foreign women were promised at least RM2,000 a month, Mustafar said.

“However, the pimps would pocket most of their earnings,” he said.